Israeli airstrikes this week have targeted Hezbollah leaders and hit hundreds of sites deep inside Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands have fled the border region, while the group has fired barrages of rockets into Israel.

According to Reuters, mourners thronged a funeral on Wednesday in Beirut’s suburbs for two senior Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli strikes the day before. Fighters in fatigues carried the flag-covered coffins as a band played. The crowd chanted Hezbollah slogans and some wept.

Israel said its warplanes were hitting south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold further north, and that it was calling up two more reserve brigades for operations on Israel’s northern border.

In a video message that made no comment on diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire, Netanyahu said Hezbollah was being hit harder than it could ever have imagined.

Lebanese hospitals have filled with the wounded since Monday, when Israeli bombing killed more than 550 people in Lebanon’s deadliest day since its civil war ended in 1990.

 Mourners react during the funeral of Hezbollah senior commander Ibrahim Qubaisi and Hezbollah commander Hussein Ezzedine, who were killed in Tuesday’s Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, on Sept 25, 2024. — Reuters
Mourners react during the funeral of Hezbollah senior commander Ibrahim Qubaisi and Hezbollah commander Hussein Ezzedine, who were killed in Tuesday’s Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, on Sept 25, 2024. — Reuters

Opinion

Geopolitical shift in ME

Geopolitical shift in ME

A prolonged conflict will have far-reaching implications for regional geopolitics, sharpening the divisions among Gulf countries that are directly affected by the tensions.

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