China on Thursday urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave “as soon as possible”, a day after a senior Palestinian militant was killed in an Israeli strike in the country.The Chinese Embassy in Beirut said “Recently, the situation on the Lebanon-Israel border remains tense, and the security situation in Lebanon is serious and complicated. The current risk level for travel in Lebanon’s South and Nabatieh provinces is red (very high risk), and in other areas it is orange (high risk).” The statement advised Chinese citizens in Lebanon to “take advantage of this opportunity to return to China or leave the country as soon as possible while commercial flights are still operating.”
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China asked its citizens to leave Lebanon and flee
An Israeli strike in Lebanon on Wednesday killed Khalil al-Maqdah, whom the Palestinian Fatah movement described as “one of the leaders” of its armed wing in the country. The attack led Fatah to accuse Israel of trying to provoke a regional war. The incident came hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a tour of the Middle East aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Al-Maqdah’s killing is the first time Israel has targeted a senior Fatah member in the more than 10-month cross-border conflict with Lebanese militants, most of them from Hezbollah, during the Gaza war. This month several countries have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based. The statement by the Chinese embassy on Thursday represents an escalation of the immediate action after a call earlier this month for citizens to “travel with caution” when visiting Lebanon.
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Israeli forces bombed Hezbollah weapons storage facilities overnight
The Israeli military said on Wednesday it bombed Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley overnight, and Hezbollah said it retaliated with a drone attack on military posts in a kibbutz in northern Israel. The Bekaa Valley is a Hezbollah stronghold and the latest hostilities on the Israel-Lebanon border will raise concerns that the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza could spiral into a wider Middle East conflict. Israel also said it had killed a militant in Sidon, southern Lebanon, who worked with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah. The Israeli military said its warplanes had struck several Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the Bekaa region. “Following the attacks, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of large quantities of weapons in the facilities that were attacked,” a statement said.
Ammunition depots attacked in Lebanon
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant said: “The attack on ammunition depots in Lebanon is a preparation for any eventuality”. There was no immediate confirmation from security sources in Lebanon that the weapons depots had been targeted on Tuesday.
The sources said the attack was carried out in a residential area near the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, an area mainly inhabited by Shiite Muslims from whom Hezbollah draws its support. At least two people were killed and 19 wounded in the air strikes, according to security sources, but it was not immediately clear whether those killed were civilians or fighters.
Hezbollah said it retaliated for the attack on the Bekaa by firing Katyusha rockets at an Israeli military logistics site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and later firing a swarm of drones at military posts in the kibbutz of Amiad in northern Israel, about 22 km (14 miles) from the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said its air defenses intercepted some of the drones and others fell in the area. There were no reports of injuries.
Israel has destroyed another enemy
Israel said the militant killed in Sidon was named as Khalil Hussein Khalil al-Maqdah. Two Palestinian sources earlier told Reuters that Maqdah had been killed, identifying him as a member of the armed wing of Palestinian group Fatah. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been engaged in hostilities for the past 10 months parallel to the Gaza war. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, although it has not yet taken any direct action. While most of the shooting has taken place along the Israel-Lebanon border, some Israeli attacks have also occurred in Lebanon, including in the Bekaa Valley on the Syrian border.
More than 600 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict began last October, including more than 400 Hezbollah fighters and 132 civilians, according to Reuters. Incidents of targeting weapons depots have increased recently. On Saturday, the Israeli military said it targeted a weapons depot used by Hezbollah militants in an airstrike. Lebanon’s state news agency said at least 10 Syrian civilians, including two children, were killed in the incident.
