Israel-Hezbollah clashes: 182 killed, over 700 wounded as new war front opens in Middle East

At least 182 people were killed and more than 700 wounded after the Israeli military carried out some 300 strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on September 23. This is the heaviest daily toll reported in nearly a year of cross-border clashes amid growing fears of a full-fledged war between the two sides that could have far-reaching impact in the region. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced in a post on the social media platform X that more than 300 Hezbollah targets were struck in Lebanon today.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the military was changing the “security balance” along the northern border. 

Netanyahu had vowed over the weekend to take steps that would allow Israeli residents to return to their homes. He said Hezbollah’s attacks last October had forced 60,000 Israelis leave their homes along the Lebanon border, as per a Reuters report.  

“No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities,” he had said. “We can’t accept it either. We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes.” 

The intense barrage of airstrikes also prompted a counter-attack from Hezbollah as thousands of civilians fled the southern part of the country. Hezbollah said that it targeted three sites in northern Israel, including military production facilities, in retaliation for IDF strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon.

Lebanese officials claimed that people received more than 80,000 suspected Israeli calls asking people to evacuate. The head of telecoms company Ogero, Imad Kreidieh, told Reuters, saying such calls were “psychological warfare to cause havoc and chaos”. 

Lebanon’s health minister Firass Abiad says Israeli bombing has targeted homes, medical centres, ambulances and cars of people trying to flee. According to the minister, at least 274 people have been killed, including 21 children, 39 women and two medics.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas also condemned Israel’s attack on southern Lebanon on Monday. “We, in the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, affirm that this wide-scale barbaric aggression is a war crime,” the group stated, adding that they reaffirmed “our solidarity… with our brothers in Hezbollah and the brotherly Lebanese people”.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani condemned the “widespread airstrikes in residential areas in southern Lebanon” by Israel and the killing of “hundreds of defenceless people.” 

“We strongly condemn the silence and support of the US and some Western states to the Zionist regime and warn against the continuation of the regime’s crimes against Palestinians and its attempt to expand war to the entire region. There will be dangerous consequences to the new adventure of the Zionists,” Kanaani was reported saying by Reuters. 

Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Austin voiced support for Israel’s right to self-defence as Hezbollah’s attacks escalate. 

However, he maintained the need for a diplomatic solution to ensure the safety of civilians and called for a ceasefire in Gaza to secure the release of hostages.