Tel Aviv shelters fill as missile attacks coincide with strikes on Lebanon

Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian 

Control of the mountains and hills in southern Lebanon has become a key objective of the Israeli war, after a military report revealed that the army’s plan to create a buffer zone anticipated soldiers being killed and wounded in battles against Hezbollah’s Radwan Force.

Israeli soldiers have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the war and reach an agreement.

In a plan developed following a security assessment, the army is attempting to reach elevated areas that provide military visibility across points stretching from Tyre to the Bekaa. These positions must be occupied and equipped with technology to ensure ongoing surveillance.

Developments along the border with Lebanon coincided with a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump, which Tel Aviv interpreted as aligning with its policy of not ending the war without achieving a set of objectives, foremost among them dismantling Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Missiles have turned shelters into makeshift homes where millions of Israelis spend long hours, while destruction spreads across Tel Aviv and the north and south, damage some have compared to the devastation in Gaza.