Israeli drone targets car in Sidon as fighting resumes
Fighting resumed Monday after a short-lived calm following a heavy exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israeli strikes targeted Monday the southern border village of Tayrharfa and the coastal city of Sidon. A car was hit in the latter strike near Abra's entrance.
The National News Agency reported that a man "from one of the Palestinian organizations" had survived the strike on the car.
In addition to targeting Hezbollah members, Israel has occasionally targeted members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Lebanon. There were no immediate reports of other casualties.
Later in the day, Israeli drones and warplanes targeted the southern towns of Markaba, Taybeh, and Hanine in the Bint Jbeil district.
Hezbollah, for its part, targeted surveillance equipment in the Ramia post in northern Israel with a suicide drone.
On Sunday, Israel launched dozens of strikes on southern Lebanon that it described as a preemptive operation, saying it had averted a major attack planned by Hezbollah in retaliation for the killing of one of its top commanders, Fouad Shukur, in an Israeli strike in Beirut last month.
Shortly afterward, Hezbollah launched a barrage of hundreds of drones and rockets, which it said was in retaliation for the killing of Shukur. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said drones had hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv. Israel said no military target was hit. Neither offered evidence.
Israel and Hezbollah backed off from sparking a widely feared all-out war, as both sides signaled their most intense exchange in months was over and neither side launched strikes overnight.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in 2006, is believed to be far more powerful now. The United States and Israel estimate it has some 150,000 rockets and is capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel. The group has also developed drones capable of evading Israel's defenses, as well as precision-guided munitions.
Israel has vowed a crushing response to any major Hezbollah attack. It has an extensive multi-tiered missile defense system, and it is backed by a U.S.-led coalition that helped it shoot down hundreds of missiles and drones fired from Iran earlier this year.
The U.S. and other mediators see a cease-fire in Gaza as key to averting a wider Mideast war. Hezbollah has said it will halt its strikes on Israel if there is a cease-fire.
Source: Naharnet, Associated Press
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