Israeli military chief says the operation towards Hezbollah “has solely begun” and could be “extended”.
Revealed On 22 Mar 2026
Israeli forces have attacked the Qasmiyeh Bridge, a key crossing linking Lebanon’s south to the remainder of the nation, in an escalation that President Joseph Aoun known as a “prelude to floor invasion”.
Sunday’s strike on the very important artery and different civilian infrastructure got here after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the navy to destroy all crossings over the Litani River and houses near the border between the 2 nations.
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The bombing of the bridge marks an escalation of the Israeli navy’s campaign towards Hezbollah, which resumed on March 2 after the Lebanese armed group fired rockets into Israel in response to the Israeli-US killing of Iran’s Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei.
Aoun stated the assaults on the bridge have been “an try and sever the geographical connection between the southern Litani area and the remainder of Lebanese territory”.
He stated they fell “inside suspicious schemes to determine a buffer zone alongside the Israeli border, solidify the truth of the occupation and search Israeli expansion inside Lebanese territory”.
Katz had earlier stated Israel’s technique of attacking bridges over the Litani River used for “terrorist exercise” and houses in “front-line villages” to neutralise threats to Israeli communities was much like the mannequin utilized in Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza, the place Israel created buffer zones by clearing and demolishing buildings close to the border as a part of its genocidal struggle towards Palestinians within the territory.
In a while Sunday, the Israeli military chief stated the operation towards Hezbollah “has solely begun” and could be “extended”.
“We are actually getting ready to advance the focused floor operations and strikes in accordance with an organised plan,” Lieutenant Common Eyal Zamir stated in a press release.
The Lebanese authorities has outlawed Hezbollah navy exercise and stated it wished to have interaction in direct talks with Israel. Earlier this month, Katz had warned the Lebanese authorities it could face infrastructure injury and territorial losses except Hezbollah was disarmed, as agreed in a 2024 ceasefire that ended a 12 months of cross-border preventing.
Wanton destruction
Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, instructed information company Reuters that destroying properties in southern Lebanon wholesale would quantity to wanton destruction, which is a struggle crime.
He added that worldwide legislation requires armed actors to bear in mind the civilian hurt brought on by strikes on infrastructure like bridges, even when the targets have been getting used for navy functions.
“If all these bridges are struck, and the area that’s south of the Litani turns into remoted from the remainder of the nation, then the civilian hurt goes to be so immense that you’ve a humanitarian disaster as individuals nonetheless residing within the south gained’t be capable of entry meals, drugs and different primary wants,” he stated.
Lebanon’s Well being Ministry stated 4 individuals have been killed on Sunday in two strikes within the south. It stated 1,029 had been killed and a couple of million displaced in virtually three weeks of battle, which erupted amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that the previous had repeatedly violated.
Earlier, an Israeli was killed in his automotive close to the border with Lebanon after what the navy described as a “launch” from Lebanese territory. It was the primary Israeli civilian loss of life linked to fireside from Lebanon within the present struggle. Two Israeli troopers have additionally been killed in preventing in southern Lebanon.
French Overseas Minister Jean-Noel Barrot met along with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, in Jerusalem on Friday, telling reporters that he had expressed France’s reservations a couple of floor operation of “vital scale and length”.
