Iraqi Shiites mobilize for humanitarian aid to Lebanon

The Iraqi Shiite "people's militia" announced mobilization to provide humanitarian aid to Lebanon. Militia leader Falih al-Fayyad said on September 23.

"Declaring full solidarity with our brothers in Lebanon in the face of Zionist arrogance and the daily killing machine that moves between Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, we declare our full readiness and mobilization to provide all possible types of assistance on food, medical and humanitarian levels to our brothers in Lebanon in response to the call of the supreme religious authority and in view of human duty," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying .

Falih al-Fayyad also called on the international community to help Lebanon in coordination with the Iraqi government.

Winged phase: Hezbollah announces new phase of fight against Israel

How the nature of the confrontation between the Lebanese movement and the IDF will change

On the night of September 22, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that Lebanon had struck Israeli territory with 10 rockets. Hezbollah indicated that the target was the Israeli Air Force Ramat David airbase, which is about 50 kilometers from the Lebanese border. On the same day, it was reported that more than 100 rockets were launched from Lebanon, which were intercepted or fell in open terrain.

The day before, on September 21, Israel imposed a special situation in the north of the country due to the threat of shelling from Lebanon. In particular, there appeared restrictions on meetings there: groups on the street should not be more than 30 people, and indoors - more than 300.

On September 20, Israel targeted Lebanon's capital Beirut - the IDF sought to eliminate Hezbollah Shiite commander Ibrahim Aqil, who is a member of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah's top military body, the Jihad Council. The movement confirmed Akil's death. Fifteen other members of the movement were killed along with him, including senior commanders of the Radwan special forces. The country's health ministry later said the number of victims of the attack had risen to 45.

On September 19, the Israel Defense Forces said its military launched a series of attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, hitting 100 launchers and facilities of the group.

On Sept. 17, multiple people were seriously injured in pager explosions in Beirut and southern Lebanon. The next day, various wireless devices exploded in cars and on motorcycles. These were portable radios, which were different from pagers. Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah representatives blamed Israel for the explosions.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected Israel's territory to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, as well as invaded border areas in the south of the country and took hostages. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.