Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles at Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in the militant group’s heaviest barrage in several days, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut as negotiators continued their ceasefire efforts. -fire for stop the war.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center killed one soldier and injured 18 others on the southwest coastal road between Tire and Naqoura, the Lebanese army said. The Israeli military expressed regret and said the strike took place in a combat zone against Hezbollah, adding that its operations were directed only against the militants. The strike was under consideration.
Hussein Malla / AP
Israeli strikes have killed more than 40 Lebanese soldiers since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollaheven if the Lebanese army remained largely on the sidelines.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned it as an attack on U.S.-led ceasefire efforts, calling it “a direct and bloody message rejecting all ongoing efforts and contacts » to end the war.
“(Israel) once again writes with Lebanese blood its shameless rejection of the solution that is under discussion,” we read in a statement from his office.
The strike took place in southwest Lebanon, on the coastal road between Tire and Naqoura, where heavy fighting took place between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023 from the Gaza Strip sparked war there. Hezbollah presented these attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.
Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket attacks began, and in September the low-intensity conflict escalated into all-out war, when Israel launched waves of airstrikes on large parts of Lebanon and killed the Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of its leaders. senior commanders.
Hezbollah fired around 160 rockets and other projectiles at Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted, the Israeli military said.
Oded Balilty / AP
Israeli emergency services Magen David Adom said they were treating two people in the central town of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man lightly injured by an explosion and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. First responders said they treated three other people in northern Israel, closer to the border, including a 60-year-old man in serious condition.
It is not clear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or the interceptors.
Israeli airstrikes hit central Beirut early Saturday, killing at least 20 people and injuring 66 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. The fighting has displaced around 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, around 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians were killed by bombings in northern Israel and during the fighting that followed the Israeli ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the north of the country.
The Biden administration has spent months trying to negotiate a ceasefire, and U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.
The European Union’s top diplomat called for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach an agreement, saying one of them was “waiting for a final agreement from the Israeli government” .
Josep Borrell spoke on Sunday after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has served as a mediator with the group.
Borrell said the EU was ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to help the Lebanese army, which would deploy additional forces in the south.
The emerging deal would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon, downstream of the Litani River, in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops are said to be patrolling the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.
The Lebanese army reflects the country’s religious diversity and is respected as a national institution, but it lacks the military capacity to impose its will on Hezbollah or resist the Israeli invasion.
