Israel launched a strike on Lebanon on Saturday in retaliation for rockets on Israeli targets, killing six people in the heaviest shooting exchange since His ceasefire With the militant group, Hezbollah started almost four months ago.
The exchange has aroused concern about whether The ceasefire would holdA few days after Israel relaunched his war with another militant group supported by Iran, Hamas, in Gaza. In a press release, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the attack, saying that it was attached to the truce.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had asked the army to respond with force against dozens of targets in Lebanon, where Hezbollah supported by Iran is based. The Israeli army said six rockets had been drawn to Metula, a city along the border with Lebanon. Three crossed Israel and were intercepted.
The army said that it “could not confirm the identity of the organization that pulled the rockets”. He said he had hit the Hezbollah command centers and dozens of rocket launchers.
An Israeli strike on the south of the Lebanese village in Touline killed five people, including one child, and injured 10 others, including two children, reported the national national agency in Lebanon.
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Another Israeli strike on Saturday evening hit a garage in the coastal city of Tire, the NNA reported, with a person killed and seven injured. It was the first attack on the city since the ceasefire entered into force on November 27 and a strike in the village of Hawsh al-Sayed Ali along the border with Syria injured five people, according to the NNA.
A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press on Saturday that he was not responsible for the initial attack, the caller “primitive”, speaking under the cover of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the media.
In a statement, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked Lebanese soldiers to take all the necessary measures in the South, but said the country did not want to return to war.
Hezbollah started to launch rockets, drones and missiles in Israel the next day October 7 of Hamas 2023Gaza’s attack ignited war there. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict made a total war in September while Israel made massive waves of air strikes and killed most of the senior leaders of the militant group. The fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and moved around 60,000 Israelis.
Under the ceasefire reached in November, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory at the end of January. The deadline was then extended until February 18 by agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
But since then, Israel has remained in five places in Lebanon, opposite the communities in northern Israel, and has carried out dozens of air strikes in the south and east of Lebanon, saying that it had attacked Hezbollah. Lebanon has called on the UN to put pressure on Israel to fully withdraw from the country.
The United Nations provisional force in Lebanon, known as Unifil, said that it had been alarmed by the possible escalation of violence and urged all the parties to avoid endangering the progress made, affirming that additional escalation could have serious consequences for the region.
The strikes on Lebanon occur one day after Israel said that it would carry out operations in Gaza “with increasing intensity” until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds – of which 24 are considered alive.
The attack on activists led by Hamas in 2023 killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Israel’s reprisal offensive killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health controlled by Hamas. He does not say how many activists were activists, but said that more than half of the people killed were women and children. Israel says he killed around 20,000 activists, without providing evidence.
