(Beirut) Hezbollah and its ally Amal announced Wednesday evening eight deaths in their ranks, including rescuers, in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, bringing to 16 the number of victims from a day of cross-border firefights. .
For almost six months, daily violence has pitted the Israeli army against Hezbollah and its allies who claim to want to support the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
The powerful Hezbollah targets military positions and localities near the border, and Israel responds by bombarding deeper and deeper into Lebanese territory, including carrying out targeted attacks against Hezbollah and Hamas officials.
The pro-Iranian party announced Wednesday evening the death of four of its fighters and two rescuers affiliated with it, its ally in the Amal movement announcing the death of two of its members, including a rescuer.
They were killed in Israeli strikes in Naqoura and Tayr Harfa, in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese National Information Agency (ANI, official), which also reported eight deaths.
Seven other rescuers were killed overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday when strikes targeted an emergency center of an association belonging to Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese Islamist group close to Hamas.
Several groups in Lebanon operate health centers and emergency response operations.
The Israeli army affirmed for its part that its “fighter planes targeted a military complex” where there was “a major terrorist preparing attacks against Israeli territory”.
She claimed that this man had “been eliminated, along with other terrorists who were in his company”.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health denounced “this new Israeli attack on a health center”, which “contravenes the Geneva Conventions” on the protection of civilians and humanitarians.
Hezbollah responded by firing rockets at Kyriat Shmona, in northern Israel, where Israeli emergency services reported one dead, “a 25-year-old worker”, a non-resident of the town.
This upsurge in violence raises fears of a worsening of exchanges of fire between the powerful Hezbollah and Israel, against a backdrop of threats of open war.
“Avoid” an escalation
In this context, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met in Beirut on Wednesday with her Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikati.
An Italian diplomatic source had indicated to AFP in advance that the meeting would be for Mme Meloni the opportunity to “carry a clear message on the need to avoid any risk of escalation along the border”.
This requires “the full application of resolution 1701, including with regard to the delimitation of the Israeli-Lebanese border”, according to this source.
During the meeting, Mr. Mikati “reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to fully implement Resolution 1701,” according to a statement from his office.
Mme Meloni is due to visit Italian peacekeepers deployed in the south of the country as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Thursday, ahead of Easter celebrations.
With more than 10,000 men, UNIFIL has been stationed in southern Lebanon since 1978 to act as a buffer with Israel. Its role has been strengthened since the 33-day conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006.
At least 346 people have been killed in Lebanon – most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also at least 68 civilians – in clashes with Israel in nearly six months, according to an AFP count.
This border violence also displaced thousands of people in southern Lebanon, but also in northern Israel, where according to the army, ten soldiers and eight civilians were killed.