Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
As Israel expands its ground assault into Gaza, the scale and intensity of activity on the Lebanon front has also increased, reflecting Hezbollah’s willingness to support Hamas even at the risk of igniting a broader regional conflict.
“The rules of engagement, which have been so far relatively respected, are being increasingly tested day after day, so no one can dismiss the risk of a wider escalation,” said Karim Bitar, professor of international relations at Saint Joseph University in Beirut.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had “killed and wounded” the crew of a Merkava tank near northern Israel's Pranit barracks. It was not immediately known how many soldiers were killed in the attack, as the Israeli military does not immediately acknowledge fatalities.
Overnight, Israeli forces struck the outskirts of several southern Lebanese towns – Ramia, Aita Al Shaab and Labouneh – with white phosphorous and artillery.
The Israeli military said the attack had been aimed at Hezbollah military positions, including a weapons cache.
The use of white phosphorous by Israel in its attacks on south Lebanon has been documented on several occasions by rights group Amnesty International. Its use is banned under international law.
Although Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily since the conflict began, the cross-border bombardment has significantly intensified since last week, after Israel announced the “second stage” of its war on Hamas.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels also claimed to have launched “a large batch of ballistic and cruise missiles and a significant number of drones” towards Israel’s southern city of Eilat on Tuesday – the third such operation claimed by the rebel group.
Gaza invasion a 'red line' in 'unity of fronts' strategy
“We have seen a widening of the geographic area in which the military operations are happening,” Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, told The National.
Since 2021, Hezbollah and its allies have employed a strategy commonly referred to as the “unity of fronts”, in which the respective groups would pool resources, tactics and weapons, Mr Ali explained.
The strategy saw them form a “a Nato of non-state actors, if you will, in which they would all join in if attacked by Israel and that would deter Israel from launching attacks against these organisations”.
“So what we're seeing now in south Lebanon has been in the works for years,” he explained.
“Hezbollah has to step in to try and draw a red line around the invasion of the Gaza Strip and destruction of Hamas.”
The unity of fronts strategy has also been enacted in Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthis have launched attacks on Israel over the past three weeks, and in Iraq, where Iran-backed groups have attacked US military instalments.
How has the Israel-Lebanon front evolved?
The gradually escalating conflict has been more or less continuous since hostilities began on October 8, punctuated by brief lulls in the bombardment.
Three weeks ago, when the conflict first erupted between Israel and armed militant groups in Lebanon led by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed party primarily launched attacks on Israeli military instalments – intelligence watchtowers, surveillance infrastructure and tanks. The vast majority of casualties were soldiers.
Hezbollah has also allowed Palestinian groups such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas to cross into Israel for limited operations.
The exchange of fire was largely tit for tat: whenever Israeli shelling killed civilians, Hezbollah or its allies would also attack civilians. If an especially high death toll was announced in Gaza following intense aerial bombardment by Israel, groups in south Lebanon would, in turn, intensify their own attacks.
But the tactics have since evolved.
Hezbollah and its allies intensified attacks on Israel following the latter’s high-intensity bombardment of Gaza last week, which was accompanied by a ground operation conducted under the cover of a total communications blackout.
Israel, in turn, has responded by striking up to 20km into Lebanon in areas such as Jezzine, no longer limiting itself to the border – a significant boost in hostilities.
Hezbollah's aims
Hezbollah aims to prevent a military invasion of the Gaza Strip, or at least keep Israel too occupied to focus its full attention on the enclave.
The group is sending the message that “it will step if will step in and will be part of this conflict if Israel continues its ground invasion in Gaza”, Mr Ali explained.
“And secondly, it's also an attempt to engage as many Israeli soldiers in the north to divert some of the resources away from the Gaza Strip,” he continued.
“Hezbollah will keep phasing its escalation to try an avoid a war, as it tries to send the message to Israel that it needs to limit its operation in the Gaza Strip, or this will get out of hand.”
To date, at least 50 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict with Israel erupted – mostly Hezbollah fighters and some fighters from allied groups. There have been four civilian casualties, including Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah.
Most of Hezbollah’s fighters have been killed in Israeli drone strikes, leading the powerful group to unveil its surface-to-air missile capability for the first time on Sunday when it downed an Israeli drone.
Eight Israelis have been killed in attacks coming from Lebanon, the vast majority of them soldiers.
Thousands of people have evacuated or been displaced on both sides of the border.
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The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Du Football Champions
The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.
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Bantamweight 56.4kg
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Lightweight 60kg
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Light heavyweight 81.4kg
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
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Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
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Ten10 Cricket League
Venue and schedule Sharjah Cricket Stadium, December 14 to 17
Teams
Maratha Arabians Leading player: Virender Sehwag; Top picks: Mohammed Amir, Imad Wasim; UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Zahoor Khan
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Kerala Kings Leading player: Eoin Morgan; Top picks: Kieron Pollard, Sohail Tanvir; UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Imran Haider
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Team Sri Lanka Cricket Will be made up of Colombo players who won island’s domestic limited-overs competition
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Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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The bio:
Favourite holiday destination: I really enjoyed Sri Lanka and Vietnam but my dream destination is the Maldives.
Favourite food: My mum’s Chinese cooking.
Favourite film: Robocop, followed by The Terminator.
Hobbies: Off-roading, scuba diving, playing squash and going to the gym.
HOW TO WATCH
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
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Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
