Explosions on Friday and Saturday as Israeli military strikes first targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and then several buildings in the Lebanese capital that allegedly store the militants’ missiles. shocked Beirut.
This is the latest escalation in fighting, but here’s what you need to know about their decades-long conflict.
Israeli invasion: Israel occupied nearly half of Lebanese territory in 1982 when the Lebanese army invaded in response to an attack by the Palestine Liberation Organization. This includes Beirut, where Israeli forces, along with Christian Lebanese militias allied with right-wing Israel, have laid siege to the western part of the capital to drive out Palestinian militants.
More than 17,000 people were killed in the Israeli operation, according to media reports and an Israeli investigation into the massacre at the Beirut refugee camp. The investigation found Israel indirectly responsible for the massacres committed by Lebanese Christian fighters.
Rise of Hezbollah: As hordes of Palestinian fighters leave Lebanon, a group of Shiite Islamic militants trained by Iran burst onto the scene. In 1983, two suicide bombers associated with this faction attacked a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing about 300 U.S. and French soldiers and civilians.
A year later, Iranian-linked warplanes bombed the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 23 people. In 1985, these extremists rallied around a newly founded organization, Hezbollah.
Support for Gaza: Hezbollah is part of a larger Iranian-led militant alliance spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza and Iraq, and has been in conflict with Israel and its allies since the war with Hamas began. It is escalating and has vowed to continue until the war is over. It ends.
Killing of key leader: Tensions escalated after Israel announced it had killed Hezbollah’s top commander, Fuad Shukr, in an attack on Beirut in July. In retaliation, Hezbollah launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel.
Displaced people: Escalating cross-border fighting is forcing people to flee their homes in both Israel and Lebanon. Israel this month made it a war goal to force tens of thousands of northern Israelis to return to their homes near the border. More than 100,000 displaced people have been recorded in Lebanon, but authorities said the real number was likely much higher.