The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it had launched air raids against Hezbollah targets after attacks by the Lebanese movement marking an escalation of tension on Israel’s northern border.
“In response to the shots coming from Lebanon […]Israeli army fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist targets,” the army said in a statement, also reporting tank and artillery strikes towards Lebanese territory.
Targets hit “include terrorist infrastructure, rocket storage sites and military complexes,” the text adds.
Hezbollah, for its part, indicated that it had attacked five Israeli positions along the border and, in another attack, had hit an Israeli military position on the border not far from Kiryat Shmona.
Videos posted on social media showed a loud explosion followed by a large cloud of black smoke at the location of Israeli surveillance facilities.
Earlier in the morning, the Israeli army said it had struck “two terrorist cells” and a Hezbollah “observation post” in response to attempted firing from Lebanon towards Israeli territory.
“In response to two terrorist cells attempting to fire from Lebanon towards Israeli territory, the Israeli army struck the cells and a Hezbollah observation post,” the army said in a statement.
The army also indicated that it had responded to mortar fire coming from Lebanon towards Israeli localities “in the north of Israel”, specifying that they had not caused any injuries.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, visiting the reservists, reiterated Saturday that his country “has no interest in a war” on its northern border but warned that if Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah , “made a mistake he would seal the fate of Lebanon”.
Since October 7, a war has pitted Israel against Palestinian Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, triggered by an attack of unprecedented scale by the Islamist movement on Israeli soil.
Since then, the Lebanese-Israeli border has been the scene of frequent exchanges of fire between the Israeli army on one side and the powerful Lebanese movement Hezbollah and its allies on the other, who support Hamas.
In his first speech since the start of the conflict, the leader of Hezbollah on Friday accused the United States of being “entirely responsible” for the war between Israel and Hamas.
He also warned Israel against the “stupidity” of attacking Lebanon, adding that stopping the “aggression against Gaza” would prevent regional conflict.
The rise in tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border raises fears of a regional extension of the conflict.
In Israel, at least 1,400 people were killed according to the authorities, the majority civilians on the day of the Hamas attack. Nearly 9,500 people, mainly civilians, were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas government which controls this territory.