Israel warns Lebanon of ‘heavy price’ as bombardment pounds its suburbs

BEIRUT – Israel warned Lebanon on March 7 of a “very heavy price” if it did not rein in Iran-backed Hezbollah, as it pounded the group’s strongholds around the country with air strikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east.

Lebanon was dragged into the wider Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel, which has responded with heavy bombardment across Lebanon’s south, east and near the capital Beirut.

Early on March 7, more buildings in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut lay as mounds of smoking rubble and twisted metal, after heavy Israeli bombardment that followed an evacuation order for civilians.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, addressing Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun in a statement, said that if the Lebanese government fails to enforce a 2024 agreement to disarm Hezbollah, it and the whole of Lebanon will suffer.

“If the choice is between protecting our civilians and our soldiers or protecting the state of Lebanon, we will choose the protection of our civilians and soldiers, and the Lebanese government and Lebanon will pay a very heavy price,” Mr Katz said.

He added that Israel had no territorial claims against Lebanon, but would not allow a situation where there could be fire targeting Israel from Lebanese territory.

Overnight, Israeli helicopters dropped troops near the town of Nabi Chit in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanese state media and residents said.

Israel’s military said the troops staged the operation to seek the remains of Lieutenant-Colonel Ron Arad, an Israeli airforce navigator missing in Lebanon since 1986. However, no findings related to him were recovered, it said.

Hezbollah said in a statement overnight that it fired on Israeli troops dropped near Nabi Chit by four helicopters, and that the commandos withdrew. The Israeli military said none of its forces were injured.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 41 people had been killed in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours in Nabi Chit.

A spokesman said the toll included people killed in strikes throughout March 6, as well as during intense overnight bombardment, and that it was expected to rise further.

Two security sources said three army troops were among the dead.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 200 people across Lebanon, and orders to evacuate have displaced around 300,000 people, only a third of whom are now living in government shelters.

‘A night of hell’

Mr Shawki al-Masri, who lives in a town adjacent to Nabi Chit, described the overnight bombing as “a night of hell”.

“We heard the helicopters over our house all night. They were so low we thought they would land on us,” he said.

“People in the town woke up and started shooting at them, then the warplanes started bombing. It was a very violent night and only calmed down when the sun came up,” he said.

While Israeli forces are carrying out ground operations in southern Lebanon, pushing deeper into a strip of border villages, airborne operations are rare.

In a 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli naval forces kidnapped a man from a Lebanese coastal town.

The United Nations on March 7 warned that the conflict is set to get “even worse”, and that talks between Israel and Lebanon “must be pursued with urgency” to end hostilities.

Its special coordinator for Lebanon, Ms Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement that it is “clear that ongoing military actions will not deliver a lasting win to anyone”.

“Rather, they will only deepen instability and inflict further suffering,” she said. REUTERS