Fierce clashes rage inside Lebanon

Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces inside Lebanon yesterday, reporting ground clashes for the first time since Israel began pushing into its northern neighbour in a campaign to hammer the Iran-backed armed group.
The Israeli military said regular infantry and armoured units were joining its ground operations in Lebanon, a day after Israel was attacked by Iran in a strike that raised fears the oil-producing Middle East could be engulfed in a wider conflict. Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in the combat, the Israeli military said.
Iran said yesterday its missile attack – its biggest assault on Israel – was over barring further provocation, but Israel and the United States promised to hit back hard.
Hezbollah fighters clashed with Israeli troops in the border town of Maroun el-Ras and pushed back forces near other border towns. The Iran-backed group said it has destroyed three Merkava tanks with guided rockets. The group also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel.
Hezbollah’s media chief Mohammad Afif said those battles were only “the first round” and that the group had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.
Israel’s addition of infantry and armoured troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade suggests that the operation may move beyond limited commando raids.
Israel also renewed its bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group, with more than a dozen airstrikes against what it said were targets belonging to Hezbollah.
The aerial strikes killed 55 people and wounded 156 in 24 hours, the Lebanese health ministry said. In retaliation, Hezbollah targeted areas north of Israel’s city of Haifa with a large missile salvo early yesterday.
More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have died since last week when Israel started attacking targets inside Lebanon.
Ibrahim Jafari, an advisor to the General Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said a cyber operation was launched along with the missile strikes which reached their targets. Yemen’s Houthis also targeted military posts deep in Israel with three winged ‘Quds 5’ rockets.
Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister said yesterday that he was barring UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
World leaders yesterday called on Iran and Israel to step back from the brink.
“The Chinese side calls on the international community, especially major influential powers, to truly play a constructive role and prevent the situation from further deteriorating,” said a foreign ministry spokesman in a statement published online.
“This situation is developing by the most worrying scenario,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Iran and Hezbollah to immediately end their attacks on Israel and warned that Iran risks inflaming the entire region. Japan said it is deeply concerned by the situation.
Meanwhile, police in Denmark and Sweden yesterday said they were probing explosions and gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals which took place amid spiralling Middle East tensions.
In Denmark, police said three Swedish nationals had been arrested after two blasts, likely from hand grenades, in the “immediate proximity” of the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen early Wednesday.
Swedish police said the Israeli embassy in Stockholm had been targeted in a shooting on Tuesday just before 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).
No injuries were reported from the incidents.