Death toll in Israeli attack on Hezbollah, Lebanon, rises to 569

The Israeli air-strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon has hit more than 569 people, including 50 children and 94 women.

In retaliation, Hezbollah launched rocket attacks into Israel, with some projectiles directed at Israeli airbases.

The exchange of attacks between Israel and Hezbollah has been going on for almost a year since October 8, when Hezbollah began launching attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people trapped in the Gaza Strip as Israel waged war on the enclave, Al Jazeera reports.

Israel has attacked Hezbollah nearly four times that of the Lebanese group, tallying more than 8,300 attacks along the 120km (75-mile) border the report stated.

Hezbollah, which was formed in 1982 to fight Israel’s invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon, says it will stop attacking Israel if its assault on Gaza stops. Its leader Hassan Nasrallah says the group does not seek an expanded war but is prepared to match Israel’s aggression.

Regarded as the most battle-hardened nongovernmental fighting group in the region, Hezbollah fought a 34-day war against Israel in 2006 that was widely seen as a strategic and military failure for Israel.

Some Israeli leaders have pledged to remove Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, even by force.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), at least 10,214 attacks were exchanged between Israel and Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon from October 7 to September 20.

About 81 percent of these attacks – 8,313 – were carried out by Israel, which killed at least 752 people in Lebanon.

Hezbollah and other armed groups were responsible for 1,901 attacks that killed at least 33 Israelis.

In addition to Hezbollah – which mostly bore the brunt of the hostilities – other parties involved in attacks against Israel include Lebanese al-Fajr Forces and Amal Movement as well as Hamas’s Qassam Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades, both armed wings of Palestinian groups with a presence in Lebanon.