Current Middle East Crisis: Israel Launches attacks on Iran & Lebanon

ISRAEL – As the current Middle East crisis strains the global energy supply, Israel launched a new wave of airstrikes targeting Iran and Lebanon, according to a military statement on Wednesday.

In a statement, the army said airstrikes targeted “regime infrastructure” across several areas in Iran.

Iran’s Mehr news agency confirmed explosions in several areas in the capital Tehran, saying the sounds of explosions were the result of the activation of air defense systems.

The Israeli army also said its forces began airstrike against Hezbollah infrastructure in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

No information was yet available about casualties.

36 Killed Across Lebanon

At least 36 people were killed and dozens of others injured in Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon since dawn Wednesday, as regional escalation continued to flare up, Lebanese media reported.

An Israeli warplane struck a building in the town of Tamnine el-Tahta in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, inhabited by a Syrian family, killing 10 people and injuring five others, the state news agency NNA reported.

One person was also killed after an Israeli drone strike targeted Mahmoud Faqih Street in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.

Three more people were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car in the Saf al-Hawa area of Bint Jbeil in Nabatieh, according to the agency.

NNA said three people, including a paramedic, were killed in an Israeli strike on the town of Hanouiyeh in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon.

One person was killed and two others were injured in a strike on Zellaya in the Western Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon, while another was killed and eight others wounded in Israeli bombardment of Al-Housh in the Tyre district.

In the town of Qana in the same district, successive Israeli airstrikes killed five people and injured five others, NNA said.

Two more people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Chaqra in southern Lebanon, according to the agency.

Three young men were killed in Sharqiya when a strike targeted a house where they were staying, while another paramedic died in Kfartabnit after an airstrike hit the town, the same source said.

Six people were killed and seven others wounded in an Israeli strike on Chehabiyeh in Tyre, according to Al-Manar TV, affiliated with Hezbollah.

Israeli aircraft also struck a residential apartment in the Aicha Bakkar area of the capital Beirut, though the number of casualties from that attack was not immediately clear, NNA said.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry also said four people were injured in an Israeli strike in the town of Tebnine in southern Lebanon.

Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 570 people and displaced thousands across Lebanon since March 2 amid cross-border attacks with Hezbollah.

Italy Says Doesn’t Want to Enter into War

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Wednesday that Italy “does not take part” in the US-Israeli military strikes against Iran and “does not want to enter” the war.

Addressing the Senate, Meloni described the conflict as “one of the most complex crises in recent decades” and said it required “serious action,” according to Italian news agency Rai.

Referring to the US-Israeli operation, she said it was “an intervention in which Italy does not take part and does not intend to take part.”

“We are not at war and we do not want to enter a war,” she added.

Meloni also said the US and Israeli intervention against Iran had been conducted “outside the framework of international law,” placing it within what she described as “an evident crisis of international law and the collapse of a shared world order.”

At the same time, she stressed that Rome sees Iran’s military ambitions as a direct threat to Europe.

“We cannot afford an ayatollah regime possessing a nuclear weapon, combined with a missile capability that could soon be able to strike Italy and, even more so, Europe directly,” she said.

She also condemned the killing of civilians in Iran, referring to reports of a deadly attack on a school in the southern city of Minab.

“On behalf of the government, I express my firm condemnation of the massacre of girls at the school in Minab, southern Iran,” she said.

Meloni said Italy was working with European partners to pursue diplomacy but added that it was “impossible as long as Iran continues its attacks.”

She said Italy had coordinated repeatedly in recent days with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “to share assessments on the evolution of the crisis and coordinate respective national responses.”

Meloni also said Italy was providing “air defense assets to Gulf countries,” as other major European countries have done, citing the need to protect “tens of thousands of Italian citizens” in the region as well as about 2,000 Italian troops stationed in the Gulf.

She said Rome had also sent “a naval unit to Cyprus to support a European partner whose territory was struck from Iran,” calling it “a necessary act of European solidarity, but also of prevention.”

On Lebanon, Meloni said the situation was “delicate” and urged Israel to ensure the safety of Italian troops serving with the UN peacekeeping mission.

“In Lebanon, more than 1,000 Italian soldiers of the UNIFIL mission are present. The safety of the personnel must be guaranteed at all times, and we reiterate this request to Israel,” she said.

Israel’s Golani Brigade Moved from Gaza to Lebanese Border

Israel’s army chief ordered the transfer of the Golani infantry brigade from the Gaza Strip to the border with Lebanon, the military said on Wednesday, as Tel Aviv continues to expand its offensive in its northern neighbor.

A military statement said Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir ordered the Golani Brigade transferred from the Southern Command, which oversees Gaza, to operate under the Northern Command, which includes Lebanon.

The army said additional reinforcements to the northern sector will be considered based on further assessments.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that the decision effectively moves the Golani Brigade from Gaza to the Lebanese front.

The Israeli army said last week that forces under the Northern Command were positioned at several locations inside southern Lebanon.

According to the military, the 91st Division is operating in eastern southern Lebanon, the 210th Division in the Mount Dov (Shebaa Farms) area, and the 146th Division in western southern Lebanon.

It remains unclear whether deploying the Golani Brigade to Lebanon signals preparations for deeper ground operations, although the Israeli army warned residents last week to evacuate areas in southern Lebanon.

Regional escalation has flared since Feb. 28 when Israel and the US launched a joint attack against Iran, killing more than 1,200 people and injuring another 10,000.

Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries that are home to US military assets.