Israel destroys bridge in Lebanon and threatens Gaza-scale devastation 

Israel has destroyed a bridge in southern Lebanon and dropped leaflets over Beirut warning the country faces the same scale of destruction visited upon Gaza, as its military campaign against Hezbollah enters a devastating new phase.

The Zrarieh Bridge spanning the Litani River was struck early on Friday, with the Israeli military claiming Hezbollah fighters were using it to move between the country’s north and south, though it offered no evidence to support this.

It marked the first time Israel had openly acknowledged striking civilian infrastructure since the current offensive began.

Defence Minister Israel Katz made clear more such strikes would follow, saying the Lebanese government would face “increasing costs through damage to infrastructure and loss of territory” for as long as Hezbollah remained armed.

Israeli attacks on Friday also hit areas of Beirut not previously targeted in this conflict. A drone struck a residential building in the Bourj Hammoud district in the city’s northeastern suburbs, while separate strikes hit the Jnah and Nabaa neighbourhoods.

Nine people, including five children, were killed in Arki near Sidon, and eight more died in the Fawwar area. An ambulance was also struck in the south.

Israel’s latest offensive on Lebanon was triggered on March 2, after Hezbollah launched drones and rockets into northern Israel following Israel’s attacks on Iran which killed the Iranian supreme leader.

Since then, Israeli attacks have killed at least 773 people and wounded 1,933 more, including 103 children, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said on Friday. More than 800,000 people, roughly one in seven of the population, have been forced from their homes.

The leaflets dropped over Beirut on Friday carried an explicit warning, invoking Israel’s two-year assault on Gaza, which has left much of the territory in ruins and displaced nearly its entire population, as a model for what Lebanon could face.

“In light of the great success in Gaza, the newspaper of the new ⁠reality arrives to Lebanon,” the flyer said.

According to the latest satellite analysis by the United Nations Satellite Centre, about 81 percent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks.

Another flyer called on Lebanese to strip Hezbollah of its weapons. It featured two QR codes to links on WhatsApp and Facebook, accompanied by a message telling Lebanese to make contact if they want ⁠to see “real change” in their country.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Beirut, said that the Lebanese army has warned people not to scan the QR codes because they connect to the Israeli secret services who are trying to recruit people.

“[It’s] part of the sort of psychological pressure Israel wants to put on the Lebanese,” he said.

He added: “[Israel has] been striking buildings outside the traditional Hezbollah strongholds, which risks stoking sectarian conflict here in Lebanon. It’s a deeply sectarian society split on sectarian lines.

“This adds to that psychological pressure.”

The Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar said the scale of displacement had overwhelmed the state.

“No matter how many shelters are opened in Beirut, they cannot accommodate all the displaced,” he said.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said the country is “approaching a breaking point” as displacement accelerates.

“Israel’s evacuation orders have now engulfed 1,470 square kilometres [some 570 square miles], or 14 percent of Lebanon, including south Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburb, and parts of Bekaa,” the international NGO said.

It also described conditions in collective shelters as desperate, saying that in one school housing 1,200 people, 15 people were “crammed” into each classroom, with no showers and one toilet shared between 23 people.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Beirut on Friday, saying Lebanon had been “dragged into” a war not of its choosing, and called for $325m in emergency humanitarian funding.

UN agencies warned that 11,600 pregnant women had been displaced, with about 4,000 expected to give birth in the next three months, many cut off from medical care. Some 55 hospitals and clinics have been forced to shut.

A group of 12 independent UN human rights experts, including Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese,  said evacuation orders issued to residents of south Lebanon and southern Beirut were “blatantly illegal”.

They warned that the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, combined with heavy bombardment, “would constitute yet another war crime” by Israel.