Lebanese minister warns country will pay ‘very big price’ if Hezbollah ‘gambles’ on escalation with Israel
Lebanon will be in a “very difficult place” if Hezbollah “gambles more” in a conflict with Israel, a Lebanese government minister has told Sky News.
Israeli airstrikes since early on Monday have killed 564 people, including 50 children and 94 women, and left another 1,835 people wounded in Lebanon, its health ministry has said.
Israel has said it is targeting the positions of Hezbollah, a powerful militant group that does not run the Lebanese government but does have members forming part of it.
While fears over escalation grow, Lebanon’s economy minister Amin Salam – who doesn’t represent Hezbollah – said the country is already “in the eye of the storm” and “war is happening”, with potentially dire consequences.
Israel-Hezbollah latest: Lebanon ‘at brink’, UN warns
Amin Salam speaks to Sky’s lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim
Mr Salam told The World with Yalda Hakim: “There needs to be a decision whether we want to drag Lebanon into further escalation and misery or we want to make a wise decision.
“It is very clear if we decide, or if Hezbollah decides, or the whole country decides to take a big risk and gamble more in this war, we will be paying a very, very, very big price that will take Lebanon to a very difficult place, and it will take many, many years to get back from that place.”
The economy is in a “terrible place” he added, with “tens of thousands of people fleeing” for shelter.
Lebanese citizens who fled from the southern villages sit in a pickup in Beirut. Pic: AP
Cars sit in traffic as they flee the southern villages in Sidon, Lebanon, on Monday. Pic: AP
While Israel repeated on Monday that it is “not looking for wars”, its military spokesman said it will do “whatever is necessary” to push Hezbollah from its northern border with Lebanon.
Mr Salam said “the behaviour of Israel over the past half-century” makes it hard for him to believe their only intention is for the rockets from Hezbollah to stop.
This map shows data from NASA picking up thermal activity in Lebanon when Israel stepped up missile attacks this week
The minister said: “I’m 45 years old. For the past 45 years, I have not seen one intention of letting Lebanon live in peace and letting Lebanon be prosperous and be a competitor in this part of the Middle East.”
But he added he is also positive about the prospect of settling the conflict diplomatically, insisting “you can feel there’s a deal in the making”.
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With world leaders currently meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York, Mr Salam said he is pinning hopes on “good meetings” there.
He added: “I think the discussions that are happening in New York and the speeches that are coming out from world leaders that have influence on Lebanon, on Hezbollah, on the government, on the decision-making in Lebanon, is changing things by the hour, by the hour.
“And our foreign minister was not going to the UN due to the situation, and today he is going.
“So, something is changing. Something needs to change because we cannot definitely continue with this war.”
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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IDF reservists call for end to war in Gaza
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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