In response to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah claimed to have fired “dozens” of rockets onto a military base in northern Israel on Thursday. It also declared that four of its militants had perished in the attack.
Since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 launched the Gaza Strip war, Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging regular cross-border gunfire. However, in recent weeks, fears of an all-out war between the two groups have grown.
Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, said that its forces had attacked “the main air and missile defence base of the (Israeli) northern area command… with dozens of Katyusha rockets… in response to the enemy attacks that targeted the city of Nabatiyeh and village of Sohmor.”
It claimed two further attacks against Israeli forces and positions, one involving drones, and said in separate releases that four of its militants, one from Sohmor in eastern Lebanon, had been killed.
A statement from the Israeli military stated that “approximately 35 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon”.
air defenses intercepted the majority of the launches with success. It stated, “There were no reported injuries.”
Three Hezbollah operatives, two in the south of the country and one in the Sohmor area, were allegedly “eliminated” by airstrikes.
The military also said that there were no injuries when “two UAVs (drones) that were identified crossing from Lebanon fell” in northern Israel.
The official news agency of Lebanon announced on Thursday that there were Israeli attacks in a number of south Lebanon locations. It also said that an attack in Nabatiyeh the previous day injured “more than 20” persons when a two-story structure was the target.
Fears have increased. The Israel-Hezbollah confrontation, which has mainly remained contained to the border region thus far, might escalate and turn the Gaza war into a regional conflict.
France’s foreign ministry said Thursday that Paris was “extremely concerned” about the fighting, calling “all sides to exercise the greatest restraint”.
During a visit to Washington on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that while his government did not want war in Lebanon, if diplomacy failed, it might bring the country back to the “Stone Age”.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Beirut on Tuesday amid Western diplomatic efforts to defuse the situation in recent months. She warned that “miscalculation” may lead to all-out war and called for “extreme restraint”.
An AFP count shows that 485 people have died in Lebanon as a result of the fighting, the majority of whom were fighters but also included 94 civilians.
Authorities report that at least fifteen military and eleven civilians have died on the Israeli side.
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