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Over the past weeks, events have dramatically accelerated with Israel escalating and widening the scope of its attacks on Lebanon.
A man mourns people killed in an Israeli attack on Sunday in the city of Ain Deleb in southern Lebanon, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Sidon, Lebanon September 30, 2024. (Reuters)
Along with its fight against Hamas in Gaza, Israel has shifted its focus to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, attacking what it said are “Hezbollah stronghold areas” across the country as well as striking the armed group’s “infrastructure.”
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A photo shows a view of the destruction at the site of overninght Israeli airstrikes in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbeck in the Bekaa valley on October 1, 2024. (AFP)
The airstrikes have killed several Hezbollah commanders but also killed over 1,000 civilians and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.
Below is a timeline of how recent events rapidly unfolded:
September 17: Pagers attacks
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire and cross border attacks since October 8, a day after Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally, Hamas, attacked southern Israel, sparking the Gaza war. However, the simultaneous explosion of pagers across Lebanon targeting Hezbollah members marked a definitive shift in Israel’s approach to the conflict.
Men carry a coffin as they walk past images of Mohammad Mahdi Ammar, son of Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament Ali Ammar, and Abbas Fadel Yassin, who were killed amid the detonation of pagers across Lebanon, during their funeral in Beirut, Lebanon September 18, 2024. (Reuters)
Hezbollah blamed Israel for detonating the pagers which was believed to be the work of Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
September 18: Walkie-talkies attacks
After the pagers’ attacks took the country off guard, walkie-talkie devices carried by Hezbollah members detonate in several areas. The detonation of the walkie-talkies further sets the ground for days to come of escalation.
A man holds an Icom walkie talkie device after he removed the battery during the funeral of persons killed when hundreds of paging devices exploded in a deadly wave across Lebanon the previous day, in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 18, 2024. (AFP)
At least 37 people have been killed and around 3,000 wounded in the two-day attack.
September 19: Nasrallah delivers what would be his final speech
Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, delivers a speech addressing the detonation of the communication devices. The speech would become his final address before being killed in an Israeli strike a week later.
People watch Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised address, as they sit at a cafe in Sidon, Lebanon September 19, 2024. (Reuters)
Nasrallah says that Israel “violated all red lines” while admitting that the attacks dealt the party an “unprecedented blow.”
Nevertheless, Nasrallah vows that the party is going to continue its attacks until the war on Gaza is halted.
September 20: Hezbollah’s Radwan force commander killed
Israel kills Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit chief Ibrahim Aqil in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
A man poses next to a picture of late Hezbollah senior leader Ibrahim Aqil, ahead of the funeral of Ibrahim Aqil and of Hezbollah member Mahmoud Hamad, who were killed in Friday's Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, in Beirut, Lebanon, September 22, 2024. (Reuters)
Aqil was one of the principal members of Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization, which was behind the 1983 US Embassy in Beirut bombing and the US Marine Barracks bombing later that year.
September 22: Cross border attacks intensify
Hezbollah launches intense overnight rocket strikes at northern Israel, sending hundreds of thousands of people to bomb shelters.
September 23: Israel issues evacuation orders for Lebanese, widens attacks
Israel unleashes its most widespread wave of airstrikes against what it says are Hezbollah targets while warning people to evacuate areas where it claimed the armed group was storing weapons.
A security official handles the remains of a rocket that landed on a highway after it was fired from Lebanon into Israel, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, near Kfar Qasim, Israel, October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
This marked the beginning of wide and intense Israeli attacks that are no longer limited to south Lebanon, prompting thousands of people to flee.
An Israeli Army tank is transported, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in northern Israel, October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
September 24: Ibrahim Qubaisi killed
Israel says it killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi in an Israeli strike on Beirut. Hezbollah confirms Qubaisi’s death on September 25.
Hezbollah says Qubaisi joined the group in 1982 and has since held several significant military roles within the organization, and was responsible for planning and executing numerous attacks against Israel.
September 27: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah killed
In what would be one of the major events of the conflict, Nasrallah is killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Hezbollah doesn’t directly confirm the news, and the group continues its cross-border attacks on Israel.
A woman holds an image of late Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, as people gather to mourn following his death in Tehran, Iran September 30, 2024. (Reuters)
The armed group confirms Nasrallah’s death in the Israeli airstrike on Saturday, September 28.
A few days later the party also confirms that along with Nasrallah, senior party commander Ali Karaki was also killed in the airstrike. Karaki was the commander of the southern front since 1982.
October 1: Land incursion into Lebanon, Iran attacks Israel
As Israeli airstrikes continue, the Israeli military announces a ground incursion operation and says that its units have crossed over the border to target Hezbollah strongholds.
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Later in the evening, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says that it had launched attacks on Israel in retaliation for the killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Nasrallah and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed in the strike on Nasrallah.
Read more:
Timeline: From Golan Heights strike to anticipated Hezbollah, Iran attacks on Israel
Hezbollah says it fired ‘Fadi 4’ at military positions in Israel’s Tel Aviv
