(Beirut) Lebanese Hezbollah said it had targeted three military positions in northern Israel, “in response to enemy attacks” against “civilian homes” in southern Lebanon which left three dead and around ten injured on Saturday, including two fighters from the pro-Iranian party.
Since the start of the conflict in Gaza on October 7, Hezbollah, which says it intervenes in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, has exchanged daily fire with Israel on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
In a first statement on Saturday, Hezbollah indicated that its fighters had “carried out a complex attack using explosive drones and guided missiles against the headquarters of the al-Manara military command and a gathering of forces of the 51e battalion of the Golani brigade”.
Hezbollah announced the death of two of its fighters from Kfar Kila and Khiam on Saturday, without further details.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the party then announced that it had launched dozens of rockets at the Meron military air control base in northern Israel.
The party indicated that these two attacks came “in response to enemy attacks against civilian homes” in several localities “in southern Lebanon”, including Kfar Kila, as well as Kfar Chouba where a civilian was killed and Srebbine where 11 people were injured by Israeli aircraft, according to the official Lebanese agency Ani.
Over the weeks, violence increased, with Israel striking deeper and deeper into Lebanese territory and Hezbollah responding by carrying out more complex attacks against Israeli military positions in the north of the country.
“Extending the response”
“The “Iron Dome” air defense system successfully intercepted a suspicious air target crossing Lebanon towards the al-Manara region, in northern Israel,” the Israeli army said in a statement. a statement.
“In addition, numerous anti-tank missile shots coming from Lebanon were identified towards the al-Manara region,” added the army, which said it had bombed the place where the shots came from.
She also said she had targeted “Hezbollah military infrastructure in the Srebbine area.”
In nearly seven months of cross-border violence, at least 385 people, including 254 Hezbollah fighters and 73 civilians, have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, 20 people were killed, according to the army.
The number two of the pro-Iranian party, Naïm Qassem, declared on Saturday that “any extension of Israeli aggression will lead to an extension of the response […] of Hezbollah,” according to Ani.
To try to defuse the cross-border conflict and avoid a large-scale war, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, on tour in the Middle East, is due to meet in Beirut on Sunday with key Lebanese officials.