Israel intensified its aerial bombardments in Lebanon this Sunday 13th, inside and outside the strongholds of the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollahwith which it fights on land in sectors close to the border in the south of the country.
Hezbollah indicated that this Sunday it repelled two infiltration attempts by Israeli troops.
According to the pro-Iranian militia, its fighters detonated explosive devices against Israeli soldiers who “confronted them when they tried to infiltrate” near the Lebanese city of Ramia.
It also claimed to have attacked Israeli soldiers in Marun al Ras, a few kilometers to the east, and bombed an Israeli military base south of the city of Haifa. Furthermore, for the first time, the movement reported hand-to-hand combat with Israeli soldiers in a village in southern Lebanon.
For its part, the Israeli Army reported a “selective and limited” operation in the south, as well as “hand-to-hand combat” with Hezbollah. It also announced that it had captured a militia fighter in a tunnel, “destroyed (its) infrastructure along the border” and killed “dozens” of fighters.
Hezbollah opened a front against Israel in October 2023 to support its ally Hamas in the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered after the deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7 of that year.
After weakening Hamas in Gaza, Israel transferred most of its operations to the Lebanese front in September, with the aim of pushing Hezbollah away from the border areas and allowing the return of around 60,000 Israelis who had had to flee their homes in Gaza. northern Israel, due to the launch of rockets by the Shiite group.
But this Sunday, the Army said it had intercepted five projectiles coming from Lebanon.
Destroyed mosque
Israel has intensified its aerial bombardments since last midnight, according to the official Lebanese news agency Yearsas well as the shooting of cities in the south of the country, a traditional Hezbollah stronghold.
A bombing at around 3:45 am (local time) “completely” destroyed an ancient mosque in the center of the village of Kfar Tibnit, he added.
The Lebanese Red Cross reported that several of its rescuers were injured this Sunday in a bombing of a house in the south, where they were sent “in coordination” with the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil.
The front that Hezbollah opened against Israel a year ago turned into an open war on September 23, with intense Israeli bombings against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, which killed the movement’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Offensive on Jabaliya
After more than a year of fighting, Israel continues its offensive in Gaza, territory governed by Hamas.
The Army mainly bombs the Jabaliya region, in the north, where it accuses Hamas of reorganizing its forces.
This Sunday, the Army indicated that it had eliminated “dozens of terrorists” in this sector and attacked “40 terrorist targets”.
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil caused the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to a tally by AFP based on official Israeli figures and which includes hostages killed or murdered in captivity in Gaza.
At least 42,227 Palestinians, most of them civilians, died in the Israeli offensive in the territory, according to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, considered reliable by the UN.
