Israel Conducts Airstrikes on Southern Lebanon Amid Rising Tensions with Hezbollah
On Thursday, Israel launched several heavy attacks, hitting several towns in southern Lebanon and increasing concerns of an escalation in the conflict between Hezbollah and Tel Aviv. Thousands of people have been killed or injured in recent explosions in Lebanon, and the strikes have happened right after those events.
An Anadolu Agency said that over fifty raids bombed the southern Lebanese towns. Lebanese National News Agency has reported that on the same day, the Israeli warplanes attacked two targets at Mahmoudiyeh near Aaichiyeh village and the other at Kasarat al-Aroosh in Jezzine. Also, according to local sources, the Birket Jabbour area was targeted by ten missiles.
In another attack, four citizens were injured in a raid carried out by the Israelis on Hanniyeh town, which is in the Tyre district. Among the wounded are three Palestinians and one Lebanese citizen, the Health Ministry of Lebanon reported.
Hezbollah fired Falaq rockets at the Israeli military site of Metula, which is situated in northern Israel, in an act of retaliation. Yedioth Ahronoth news releases the rocket attacks led to several fires being started and also affected homes. Hezbollah also said it had targeted the Shomera battalion command central in northern Isreal by launching rockets.
In turn, the Israeli military said that it hit 30 Hezbollah rocket launchers that allegedly planned to launch up to 150 rockets at Israel. Rising tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have been seen to increase at a very high rate, most especially after some blasts that occurred in Lebanon this week.
On Wednesday, two explosions faze “ICOM” wireless devices all over Lebanon, leaving the death toll rising to 25 and 450 plus injured. These blasts occurred similar to previous explosions on Tuesday, which affected the pager devices and resulted in 12 dead, including two children and 2800 wounded, out of which 300 were critical.
The Lebanese government, in collaboration with Hezbollah, has accused Israel of being behind these blasts, saying that there will be severe consequences in case of further attacks. Still, Israel has not commented on the explosions that have been alleged to have been masterminded by its forces.
This latest episode of the violence comes against the backdrop of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza that started on the 7th of October following a Hamas attack. The following military attack from Israel has killed more than 41,300 people, most of whom are women and children.
This continues to fuel cross-border hostility between Israel and Hezbollah, and the situation in Lebanon is still unstable; there are probable conflicts in the region.
