Fears growing of ‘all out war’ on Lebanon border between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah
The war in Lebanon, which began one day after the conflict in Gaza, looks and sounds like a militarised version of hide and seek.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, along with a number of other militant groups, use the olive groves and fruit trees for cover as they launch weapons over Lebanon‘s southern frontier.
The Israelis spy from their towering observation posts which dominate the “Blue Line” separating the two countries. The motorised whine of Israel’s drones provides a constant reminder of their presence.
Every attack is met with a reciprocal response. Hezbollah’s rockets follow Israeli artillery fire. Israeli air strikes follow the militants’ anti-tank missiles.
However, the two sides are not seeking to annihilate each other – or advance into each other’s territory – at least for the time being. Instead, each strike is like a statement of intent, an example of the deadly possibilities.
At the rim of this simmering volcano stands another party that has been attempting to keep the peace on the Lebanese frontier since 1978.
Lieutenant-Colonel Cathal Keohane
It is called the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) – a multi-national force charged with monitoring and deterring hostile acts.
A detachment of 550 Irish soldiers play a key role in UNIFIL’s mission and Sky News met their commander at “Camp Shamrock”, some 20 minutes or so from the Blue Line.
Lieutenant-Colonel Cathal Keohane told us that recent fighting at the border has been deeply worrying.
The valleys of Lebanon where Hezbollah militants are hiding
An Israeli observation tower
“It is fair to say that this is the most fraught period of time in the last 20 years for us.
“While initially in the first few weeks (after 8 October) it was very localised to the Blue Line, more lately, it has escalated, (the attacks are) moving deeper into Lebanon.
“There are a wider range of weapons with great lethality being used by both sides.”
“This is what you are seeing?” I asked.
“This is our observation, and our concern is… that at the top of [the] ladder is all out war and our concern is that we are progressing towards that.”
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Lebanon on the verge of war
Members of the Irish unit told Sky News how they have been watching the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel unfold
The Irish operate two isolated outposts on the line separating Lebanon and Israel, and Sky News was taken to visit one of these posts in the back of an armoured personnel carrier – the first journalists to travel to the border with UNIFIL since the conflict began.
These posts now find themselves situated at the heart of the battle zone with hostile fire from both sides landing perilously close.
One soldier showed us pictures of a position enveloped by smoke generated by white phosphorous bombs that had been dropped nearby.
Read more:
Hezbollah warns a ‘billion’ Arabs are ready to support Gaza
Hezbollah-Israel war could be more dangerous than current conflict
The battalion commander did not want to comment on the use of white phosphorous in this conflict but local residents, as well as the Lebanese Minister of Health, Firass Abiad, told Sky News that the Israelis have destroyed thousands of acres of olive trees – and injured dozens of people – with this incendiary weapon.
The use of white phosphorous is governed by the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), which prohibits the use of airdropped incendiaries within “concentrations of civilians.” Lebanon has acceded to the protocol – Israel has not.
I asked the soldier in charge of one of Ireland’s Blue Line outposts, Lieutenant Dylan Cadogan, whether it was frustrating monitoring a war without having the authority to subdue it.
“It can be frustrating but our mission here is peacekeeping, we can’t enforce peace upon anyone, it has to be wanted on both sides.”
Lieutenant Dylan Cadogan, the soldier in charge of one of Ireland’s Blue Line outposts
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Hezbollah increasing operations
In many ways, UNIFIL’s limited mission in southern Lebanon represents the problems and limitations of the organisation they represent.
The UN has repeatedly failed to reach a united front on the conflict in Gaza with the Security Council reflecting deep divisions on a humanitarian ceasefire and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
I asked Battalion Commander Keohane whether he could simply tell the militants and the Israelis to stop – but he said he did not have the mandate.
“A peacekeeping force goes in when both parties are seeking peace and you are there to monitor, report and provide an impartial witness to what is going on,” he said.
A house hit by shells from an Israeli tank – leaving the occupants needing care from the Irish
“There are peace enforcement missions but that is a different thing entirely, they are structured differently, they are equipped differently and that is not what UNIFIL is…”
An “enforcement mission” would require a level of agreement at the Security Council that is currently unimaginable.
In the meantime, this band of Irish soldiers positioned on the Blue Line will monitor and report and assist in any way they can.
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The Syrian presidency has announced it’s assembling a special taskforce to try to stop nearly a week of sectarian clashes in the southern Druze city of Sweida.
The presidency called for restraint on all sides and said it is making strenuous efforts to “stop the fighting and curb the violations that threaten the security of the citizens and the safety of society”.
By early Saturday morning, a ceasefire had been confirmed by the US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, who posted on X that Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to a ceasefire supported by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
The post went on to state that this agreement had the support of “Turkey, Jordan and its neighbours” and called upon the Druze, Bedouins, and Sunni factions to put down their arms.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford reports from the road leading to Sweida, the city that has become the epicentre of Syria’s sectarian violence.
For the past 24 hours, we’ve watched as Syria‘s multiple Arab tribes began mobilising in the Sweida province to help defend their Bedouin brethren.
Thousands travelled from multiple different Syrian areas and had reached the edge of Sweida city by Friday nightfall after a day of almost non-stop violent clashes and killings.
“We have come to protect the [Arab] Bedouin women and children who are being terrorised by the Druze,” they told us.
Arab fighters said they had come to protect the Bedouin women and children
Fighters at a petrol station
Every shop and every home in the streets leading up to Sweida city has been burned or ransacked, the contents destroyed or looted.
We saw tribal fighters loading the back of pickup trucks and driving away from the city with vehicles packed with looted goods from Druze homes.
Shops and homes leading up to Sweida city have been burned or ransacked
Several videos posted online showed violence against the Druze, including one where tribal fighters force three men to throw themselves off a high-rise balcony and are seen being shot as they do so.
Doctors at the nearby community hospital in Buser al Harir said there had been a constant stream of casualties being brought in. As we watched, another dead fighter was carried out of an ambulance.
The medics estimated there had been more than 600 dead in their area alone. “The youngest child who was killed was a one-and-a-half-year-old baby,” one doctor told us.
Doctors said there had been a constant stream of casualties due to violence
The violence is the most dangerous outbreak of sectarian clashes since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime last December – and the most serious challenge for the new leader to navigate.
The newly brokered deal is aimed at ending the sectarian killings and restoring some sort of stability in a country which is emerging from more than a decade of civil war.
Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.
Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.
As the violence escalated in the southern province of Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.
“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Mr Barrack said in a post on X.
The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.
The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a “troubling and horrifying situation”.
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Why is Israel bombing Syria?
After Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking Syrian Druze, Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa told the minority group in a televised statement on Thursday that “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.
He then claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.
It comes after the United Nations’ migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.
It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.
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At least three people have been killed after a “horrific incident” at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility, officials have said.
A spokesperson for the department said there was an explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in east LA.
The incident was reported at around 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).
Aerial footage from local channel KABC-TV suggests the blast happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks.
The training centre in east LA. Pic: NBC Los Angeles
Attorney general Pam Bondi wrote on X: “I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.
“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more.”
California congressman Jimmy Sanchez said the explosion had “claimed the lives of at least three deputies”.
“My condolences to the families and everyone impacted by this loss,” he said.
Media and law enforcement officials near the explosion site. Pic: AP
The attorney general said in a follow-up post that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are “on the ground to support”.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said the LAPD bomb squad has also responded to the scene.
“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his press office said in a post on X.
“The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation, and has offered full state assistance,” it added.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
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