Israel kills 5 civil defense workers | Military and internal security forcefully remove displaced people from Beirut Corniche | Resistance fighters repel Israeli incursion at Ras al-Naqoura

Five civil defense staff were killed in an Israeli raid that struck the Dardaghya civil defense center, the Lebanese civil defense directorate said on Wednesday evening.

Residents of the village, which lies to the south of Sur, are mainly Shia or Christian, according to a Mada Masr correspondent in south Lebanon. Images circulated online showing the civil defense center razed to the ground and several emergency vehicles severely damaged, while substantial damage could also be seen incurred to a church adjacent to the center.

Civil defense staff, especially in villages of south Lebanon and Shia areas elsewhere in the country, have been particularly targeted by Israeli airstrikes over recent weeks. The Lebanese Health Ministry noted earlier this month that Israeli attacks killed more than 40 firefighters and paramedics over the course of just three days.

The rate of casualties has become more rapid since Israel launched an escalation on Lebanon in recent weeks, conducting wide-ranging and constant airstrikes on villages, particularly in the southern and eastern governorates. 

Its military continued attempted ground operations on Thursday, as well as airstrikes on sites ranging from the capital of Dahiyeh to villages in the Baalbek-Hermel and southern governorates.

More than 2,140 people have been killed by Israel’s attacks since the start of the aggression, and over 10,000 injured, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. More than one million are displaced so far, according to government officials. Israel launched its aggression on Lebanon in October 2023, after resistance forces in Lebanon launched operations against Israel in support of Palestinians. 

People displaced from Dahiyeh, as well as from the south, were forced to leave the Corniche at Ain al-Mraisseh on Wednesday night by military and internal security personnel, who were deployed to clear the area following complaints by the owners of properties facing the sea, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to Mada Masr. 

The area has come to be a point of refuge for some of the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the constant airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs. Displaced people seeking refuge in public spaces in the Lebanese capital have faced expulsion from internal security at multiple sites over recent days. 

Israel also continues to attempt a ground invasion in Lebanon’s south. Hezbollah said on Thursday that resistance forces struck Israeli settlements in the morning including Qiryat Shimona and Maayan Baruch with large rocket salvos. Around 40 missiles reached the Upper Galilee area, where Qiryat Shimona is located, according to the Israeli military. 

Hezbollah also said that rockets were launched at Israeli soldiers in the Lebanese villages of Marj and Beit Hallel on Thursday morning. 

Resistance forces also repelled an Israeli attempt to enter Lebanon at Ras al-Naqoura on Thursday, the party said, which described using precision-guided missiles to strike an invading tank, causing definite injury to the soldiers inside. 

Clashes took place at the same site on Wednesday night. The party stated on Wednesday that resistance fighters had used suicide drones to target Israeli soldiers attempted to enter Lebanon near Ras al-Naqoura, the westernmost point of the Blue Line, a demarcation line along the south Lebanese border stipulated by the United Nations in the 2000s as the line behind which Israeli forces occupying Lebanon should withdraw. 

Hezbollah also repelled attempted incursions at Labouneh near Ras al-Naqoura on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the clashes observed by a spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which has a peacekeeping mandate in the border area. 

The spokesperson said that UNIFIL has observed incursions by Israeli forces all along the Blue Line, though they added that the UNIFIL has limited observation capacity at present, however, due to heavy shelling preventing their units from approaching.

Israeli airplanes, meanwhile, continued heavy shelling on the border village of Khiyam in southern Lebanon as well as on Hermel, including on a border crossing in the northeast between Syria and Lebanon. Airstrikes have previously targeted the Masnaa crossing, one of the largest crossings between Lebanon and Syria in the Beqaa, the main route into Syria for displaced people seeking shelter. Figures released by the Lebanese Cabinet indicate that over 400,000 people have been displaced from Lebanon to Syria so far. 

Israeli airstrikes also targeted the Homs area of Syria in the early hours of Thursday morning, following a strike on Damascus that killed seven in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Following several days of significant missile strikes on Haifa as well as a smaller strike on Tel Aviv, Hezbollah released a video on Wednesday night showing footage from surveillance flights it conducted over Israeli territory and highlighting the locations of strategic positions, ranging from radar points for Israel’s Iron Dome defense missile system, military bases and communications infrastructure to an oil refinery. 

Prospects for a halt to the constant fire on Lebanon still appeared distant on Thursday. Following a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatening an assault on Lebanon similar to what Israel has inflicted upon Gaza, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller merely responded that the United States does not support a similar situation.

"We cannot and must not see the situation in Lebanon turn into anything like the situation in Gaza. That would, of course, not be acceptable," Miller told journalists at a Wednesday night press conference. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, had issued the threat to Lebanese people in a video message on the evening of October 8, telling them to “take back your country” from Hezbollah or face a “long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza."

The video was denounced by many in the country as inciting domestic conflict at the same time as the MTV channel incurred strong criticism for publishing an article, which was later removed, justifying the bombing of displaced people in shelters on the grounds of the channel’s claim that resistance fighters are hiding among them. 

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati stated on Thursday morning that efforts toward a ceasefire are intensifying in the lead up to a United Nations Security Council session on Lebanon.