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BREAKING: Israel readies soldiers for ground invasion of Lebanon
“We are attacking all day, both to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry, but also to continue striking Hezbollah,” were the words with which authorities indicated the readiness of the Israeli army to put boots on ground by marching into Lebanon, to upscale the onslaught against Hezbollah, through aerial bombardments.
Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi was quoted as giving the indication when he spoke to the tank brigade of the army, on Wednesday, as bombs continue to drop on major targets in Lebanon, following the days of blitzkrieg being conducted by the air force in the country.
Lebanon’s health minister said Wednesday’s strikes killed 51 people and injured 223, including in mountainous areas outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds, while Hezbollah said it had targeted Israel’s Mossad spy agency on Tel Aviv’s outskirts in the morning — the first time it has fired a ballistic missile in almost a year of cross-border clashes sparked by the Gaza war.
Channels Television, quoting agency reports, said in response, Israel said it hit 60 Hezbollah intelligence sites, among hundreds of the group’s targets struck across Lebanon, a development that is coming amid escalating cross-border clashes, after Israeli raids on Monday killed at least 558 people in the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.
The report quoted Nour Hamad, a 22-year-old student in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, described living “in a state of terror” all week, adding: “We spent four or five days without sleep, not knowing if we will wake up in the morning.”
The rest of the report went thus: In Tel Aviv, sirens sounded following Hezbollah’s unprecedented missile launch.
Tel Aviv resident Hedva Fadlon, 61, told AFP: “The situation is difficult. We feel the pressure and the tension… I don’t think anyone in the world would like to live like this.”
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Hezbollah’s attack on Tel Aviv was “deeply concerning” but added there was “still time and space for a diplomatic solution here to de-escalate the tensions and to prevent an all-out war”.
The Israeli military said “over 280 Hezbollah” targets had been struck across Lebanon on Wednesday, adding the strikes were ongoing.
“Fighter jets struck 60 terrorist targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence directorate,” the army said.
It also said two reserve brigades were being called up “for operational missions in the northern arena”, adding this would “enable the continuation of combat against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation”.
The United Nations Security Council said it would hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in New York on Wednesday, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the situation was critical.
– Rocket commander killed –
The UN’s International Organization for Migration on Wednesday said 90,000 people had been displaced in Lebanon since Monday.
Among them, “many of the more than 111,000 people displaced since October… are likely to have been secondarily displaced”, a statement from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs added.
It came after two days of what the Israeli military called “extensive” strikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.
The Lebanese group on Tuesday confirmed an Israeli claim that it had killed their rocket forces commander Ibrahim Kobeissi in a strike on the Lebanese capital.
At the UN General Assembly in New York, Secretary-General Guterres issued a stark warning.
“We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink,” he said, while cautioning against “the possibility of transforming Lebanon (into) another Gaza”.
US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel’s main backer, said “full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed his departure for New York until Thursday, where he too is due to speak at the General Assembly.
“During the day, the prime minister will hold consultations to discuss the continuation of the attacks in Lebanon,” his office said.
Netanyahu defied international calls for restraint, vowing on Tuesday to keep up Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah.
“We will continue to hit Hezbollah… the one who has a missile in his living room and a rocket in his home will not have a home,” he said.
Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, condemned Israel’s raids, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying the recent killing of Hezbollah commanders would not crush the group.
“Some of the effective and valuable forces of Hezbollah were martyred, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but this was not the sort of damage that could bring the group to its knees,” he said.
While the Israel-Lebanon border has seen near-daily clashes for a year, the violence escalated dramatically last week, when coordinated communications device blasts that Hezbollah blamed on Israel killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.
Then Israel carried out an air strike on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, killing a top military commander and other fighters and civilians.
Efforts to end the war in Gaza, which analysts say are key to stopping the escalation in Lebanon, remain stalled.
Netanyahu has been accused by critics of stalling in Gaza ceasefire negotiations and prolonging the war to appease far-right coalition partners.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,495 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.
For those believing that President Bola Tinubu’s exclusion of Humphrey Nwosu, the late Chairman of the defunct National Electoral Commission (NEC), was an error that would be corrected subsequently, their expectation came to naught on Friday, with his non-recognition once again.
In a surprise outing, the President failed once again to name the late Professor of Political Science as one of the Nigerians honoured, on the day Nigerians would be celebrating this year’s anniversary of June 12, designed to mark the historic 1993 presidential election, which has now been designated as Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
It was a day Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO), the candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), was elected President in a transition programme undertaken by the military government of then President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB).
Expectations are that because the Option A4 model used in achieving the outcome of the election, acknowledged as the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history, the late electoral commission’s boss, would feature prominently in the list of those to be honoured by the government.
But another list contained in the national broadcast by the President, suggested that the position of the treatment meted to the former NEC Chairman, reflected the thinking in the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Tinubu’s predecessor, under whom June 12 was given national recognition.
The list, populated mainly by names from the South West, which included both civilians and military personnel, did not capture the category of national honours to be bestowed on the recipients, as the government said further information would be released in due course.
Prominent among those recognized, was Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, a General and former Chief of Army Staff, Supreme Headquarters between 1976 and 1979, under the military regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, who died in Abakaliki Prison in 1997, where he was detained for allegedly participation in carrying out a coup against Sani Abacha, then Head of State.
Tinubu, said the completed Institute of Petroleum Studies, Kaduna, would now be known as General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua University of Geological Sciences and Engineering Technology, to honour the General, who later became a prominent figure in Nigerian politics, “for his vision of national partnership.”
Listing the other names, Tinubu said: “I am also pleased to announce national awards to the following Nigerians, who suffered persecution, endured indignities, exile, incarceration, and, at times, solitary confinement, so that we have democracy today.”
The recipients included: Ayoka Lawani, Tunde Fagbenle, Oladele Alake, Olatunji Bello, Louis Odion, Segun Babatope, Sam Omatseye, Ademola Osinubi, Bola Bolawole and the duo of Lade Bonuola, former Managing Director of The Guardian and Femi Kusa, former Editor of the Nigerian foremost newspaper.
Others, were: Debo Adeniran, Ayo Opadokun, Chief Ralph Obiora, Ose Osayande, Osa Director, Sylvester Odion-Akhaine, Arthur Nwankwo (Posthumous) and Osagie Obayuwana, all pro-democracy activists.
The list also included Joe Okei-Odumakin , Titus Mann, Joe Igbokwe, Richard Akinnola, Ben Charles-Obi (Posthumous), George Mbah Niran Malaolu, Ishola Williams, a retired Major-General, Femi Aborisade, Jenkins Alumona, Gbemiga Ogunleye, Muyiwa Adekeye, Babajide Kolade-Otitoju and Ike Okonta.
“We also recognise the soldier-democrats of the June 12 struggle: Major General MA Garba, Brigadier General Lawal Jaafaru Isa, Col Umar Farouk Ahmed; Col Sambo Dasuki;
Col Lawan Gwadabe; Brigadier Jonathan Ndam Temlong, Col Musa Shehu; Major General Chris Eze; Major General Harris Dzarma; Col Isa Jibrin; Maj. General Joseph Oshanupin; Col Olusegun Oloruntoba, Olugbede of Gbede Kingdom), Lieutenant Colonel Happy Kefas Bulus, Col J Okai;
Col Emmanuel Ndubueze; Lt Col Yakubu Muazu and Brigadier Yahaya Abubakar, the Current Etsu Nupe, who is already the holder of the CFR title.”
From Godswill Obot Akpabio, Senate President, came a definitive message to Nigerians on Friday – the future is bright, the road is clear and destination is assured under a strong, visionary and purposeful democratic leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
But he also raised a proviso – since democracy is participatory all citizens of the country, must get involved in providing the planks, which when nailed together, would enable the leaders fortify the platform for its growth, to enhance a robust, viable future.
These formed the fulcrum of his admonishment, as he joined other national leaders to celebrate Nigeria’s 27th anniversary of uninterrupted democracy, in which it not only broke the vice grip of military rule, but witnessed seven election circles to choose leaders at both national and other levels of government.
Akpabio, Chairman of the National Assembly, Nigeria’s lawmaking institution, was particular about the participation of the Nigerian youths in making his admonition come true, reminding them that they actually owned the future being fashioned today.
Conveying his message through Eseme Eyiboh, his spokesman the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and former Minister of Niger Delta, also called on Nigerians to embrace unity, vigilance, and active participation in nation-building, commending them for showcasing resilience and support for democracy despite some low moments.
Noting that democratic experiment remained a testimony of endurance despite years of agitations, he said: “On behalf of the 10th National Assembly, I congratulate every Nigerian for the sustenance of democracy for close to three decades. Mistakes have been made in the course of this journey but we will surely get to the desired destination with your support.”
“Democracy should extend beyond the conduct of elections and be anchored on accountability, justice, compassion and service to the common good.”
Particularly for the Nigerian youths, he was emphatic about their active participation in the nation’s political process stressing that the younger generation forms the fulcrum of leadership succession.
Hear him: “As we commemorate June 12, I wish to encourage the youth not to sit on the fence but be active participants in the nation’s political activities. The youths constitute the fulcrum of those who will succeed us tomorrow.
“Let us therefore rededicate ourselves to the ideals of freedom, transparency and accountable government, social justice, and active citizen participation, especially the youths.”
The Senate President, also spoke the current parlous state of carnage in the country, appealing to Nigerians to unite with one another and cooperate with the government to tame “the monster that has befallen the nation.”
Assuring that Tinubu’s administration remained committed to ending the menace and securing the release of all persons in captivity, he said: “I urge every Nigerian to support the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in her efforts in fighting terrorism. We understand the pains you are going through but the government is not resting on its oars and hopefully we shall overcome this current challenge and all will be well with Nigeria.”
Seriake Dickson, National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), on Wednesday showcased Peter Obi, its presidential candidate in the 2027 election, but gave a proviso – his importance would not be at the expense of the party.
A guest on Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS Television, the former Governor of Bayelsa State, now Senator representing West at the National Assembly, maintained that the belief in some quarters that Obi’s entrance into the party was a favour was completely misplaced.
Instead, he argued that the opposite was the case, as it was the party that was doing its candidates a favour by giving them the opportunity to contest elective positions on its platform in the 2027 elections, a gesture that ought to be returned.
Hear him: “Don’t make it look like anyone is doing NDC a favour. No one is. Rather, the NDC and I and my colleagues are doing people a favour by granting our platform. If you are genuinely supporting Peter Obi and you are disparaging me, the leader, or the platform itself. That is nonsensical.”
Stressing that NDC had demonstrated confidence in Obi by adopting Obi as its sole presidential candidate and selecting a vice-presidential candidate without internal disputes, he said it was enough to earn its leadership the gratitude it deserved.
He added: “Nobody paid shishi. So, if a presidential candidate didn’t pay shishi to be made the sole presidential candidate and sole vice-presidential candidate, that same party cannot be the one saying that small people are underprivileged.
“I could have run. There’s no one more qualified than me. There’s no one more qualified than me to run for presidential candidate. None. There is no crisis within the NDC. Peter Obi is a cherished member of our party. On our own, we have made him a presidential candidate. Sole presidential candidate. And that counts for something. We are working well together. There’s no crisis.”
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