Border clashes resume ahead of possible Gaza truce

Hezbollah announced Monday the death of three of its members, as Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of Dhaira, Tayr Harfa, al-Jebbayn and Zibqine in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah later claimed two attacks on Israeli posts in the occupied Shebaa Farms and Israel bombed the border towns of Mays al-Jabal, Rashaya al-Fokhar, Baraachit, al-Labbouneh, al-Naqoura, and Shihine.

Israeli warplanes had struck overnight the southern border towns of Yaroun and Maroun al-Rass while Hezbollah targeted Sunday six posts in northern Israel, three of them in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

On Sunday, local media outlets reported for the first time attacks by Hezbollah's ally, Amal. Amal has not announced any attack on Israel since the cross-border clashes began between Hezbollah and Israel on October 8 but announced the death of an Amal fighter in an Israeli drone strike in the South on November 11. Two Amal members were wounded in that strike.

Two Amal fighters were also killed in an Israeli airstrike Friday night in the southern border town of Blida. Israeli artillery shelled the town as soldiers fired machine guns from the Bayad Blida post during the fighters' funeral procession Sunday. The mourners nonetheless continued with the ceremony.

This was not the first time Israel strikes near a fighter's funeral procession in the south. In the past months of daily clashes, Israel had shelled and carried airstrikes near Hezbollah fighters' funeral processions in the south, including in Aita al-Shaab, Aytaroun and Kfarkila.

Amal chief and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Sunday that Amal is "resisting" in the south "within its military capabilities," which are far inferior to those of Hezbollah.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had warned days ago that a potential pause in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza will not apply to the ongoing hostilities with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The comments came amid negotiations via mediators between Israel and Hamas over a potential agreement that would see 136 hostages — almost three dozen of them confirmed dead — returned home in exchange for the release of a yet-to-be-determined number of Palestinian security prisoners as well as an extended pause in the fighting.

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed near-daily exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.

The previous weeklong truce agreement in late November, in which 105 hostages were released, saw both Israel and Hezbollah hold their fire on the northern border, even though this wasn’t part of the agreement inked between Israel and Hamas via Qatar and Egypt.