The fresh Hezbollah attacks took place amid rising tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border as Israel warned it was “ready” to launch a “full-scale” offensive against Hezbollah….reports Asian Lite News
About 35 rockets and missiles fired from Lebanon struck the city of Safed in northern Israel on Thursday evening, causing fires, power cuts and property damage, the Israeli military said.
“The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Aerial Defence Array successfully intercepted most of the launches,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
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According to the country’s Magen David Adom rescue service, no deaths or injuries were reported.
A house was struck by one of the projectiles, the Merom HaGalil Regional Council said in a statement.
The Fire and Rescue Authority reported that several fires erupted and civilians were stuck in elevators due to power outages.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said in a statement that it had attacked the Israeli air base in Safed with Katyusha rockets, in response to the Israeli attacks on the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon and the town of Sohmor in eastern Lebanon a day earlier, Xinhua news agency reported.
Lebanese military sources told the news agency that some of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli Iron Dome missiles.
The fresh Hezbollah attacks took place amid rising tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border as Israel warned it was “ready” to launch a “full-scale” offensive against Hezbollah.
This comes at a time when US intelligence indicated a potential large-scale confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in the next several weeks if the former and Hamas failed to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza.
In a separate statement, the IDF said Israeli warplanes, earlier in the day, struck a Hezbollah military structure in the southern Lebanese village of Ramyah and killed two Hezbollah operatives in the village of At Tiri.
On the same day, unnamed Lebanese military sources confirmed to Xinhua that three Hezbollah members were killed and a fourth was wounded in two Israeli airstrikes on Ramyah and Haddatha.
The IDF reported that earlier on Thursday Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft attacked in the Sakhmar region of Lebanon where they eliminated an active UAV/drone launch unit of the Hezbollah air unit that had carried out launches into Israel earlier.
In addition, IAF fighter jets attacked military buildings of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah in the areas of Hula and Aitaroun in southern Lebanon.
At the same time, the IDF forces fired artillery into the areas of Wadi Hamoula and near Naqoura, both in southern Lebanon.
In addition, on Wednesday night, terrorist infrastructures of the Hezbollah organization were attacked in the areas of Odaisseh and Al-Khiam in Lebanon.
Tensions have been rising along the Lebanon-Israel border since October 8, 2023, following a rocket barrage launched by Hezbollah toward Israel to show its support for the surprise attack on southern Israel launched by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip the day before.
Earlier, A UN official warned the Security Council of a deepening crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.
During a Security Council briefing, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland described the “catastrophic and horrifying” humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where civilians suffer under the impact of hostilities and a near-total breakdown of civil order, reports Xinhua news agency.
He reiterated the Secretary-General’s warning that further escalations “will only guarantee more suffering and potentially catastrophic consequences for the region.”
Wennesland condemned the ongoing Israeli settlement expansions as having “no legal validity” and being in “flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions.”
“I urge the Government of Israel to cease all settlement activity immediately,” Wennesland stated.
The UN official also condemned the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, which have destroyed neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure, including hospitals and UN premises.
Wennesland noted the increase in violence between Palestinians and Israeli forces and attacks by both Israeli settlers and Palestinians, emphasising that “all perpetrators of violence must be held accountable and swiftly brought to justice.”
He also expressed serious concerns over potential military escalations between Israel and Hezbollah along the Blue Line, the boundary separating Lebanese and Israeli armed forces.
Additionally, Wennesland addressed the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal crisis, exacerbated by Israeli financial constraints. He warned of severe repercussions for the Palestinian financial system, urging immediate action to resolve these financial issues to mitigate the economic and security situation in the occupied West Bank.
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