Calm after the storm: Clashes level off after violent days on Lebanon-Israel border
Hezbollah targeted Friday several Israeli posts while the Israeli army bombed several towns in south Lebanon.
Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of al-Hebbarieh and Rashaya al-Fokhar and warplanes raided the southern border town of Markaba injuring one person and the al-Rihan mountain in Iqlim al-Tuffah far away from the border.
Hezbollah said it attacked the Ramtha and al-Semmaqa posts in the occupied Kfarshouba hills and the Ramia post in northern Israel.
Israeli warplanes had struck overnight the outskirts of Tayr Harfa.
Hezbollah on Thursday launched over 200 rockets at several military bases in Israel and the Golan Heights in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its senior commanders. The attack, one of the largest in the monthslong conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border, killed an Israeli soldier.
Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, vowed that the group will continue its retaliatory attacks, “targeting new sites they never imagined would be hit.”
“The enemy sometimes acknowledges these hits and sometimes does not, but it is certain that there have been many casualties,” he said at the commander's funeral.
The U.S. and France are continuing to scramble to prevent the skirmishes from spiraling into an all-out war, which they fear could spillover across the region. Washington in its shuttle diplomatic efforts initially hoped for calm along the Lebanon-Israel border in a deal that is not linked to the war in Gaza. However, since the U.S. has called for Hamas to agree to a cease-fire proposal presented by President Joe Biden, it has said that an end to the war in Gaza would lead to calm in Lebanon and northern Israel as well.
The relatively low-level conflict erupted shortly after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Hezbollah says it is striking Israel in solidarity with Gaza. The group's leadership says it will stop its attacks once there is a cease-fire in Gaza, and that while it does not want war, it is ready for one.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, say they could decide to go to war in Lebanon if efforts for a diplomatic solution fail.
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 450 people — mostly fighters but also dozens of civilians — have been killed.
Israel sees Hezbollah as its most direct threat and estimates that it has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles.
In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war that ended in a draw.
Source: Naharnet, Associated Press
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