BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it launched over 200 rockets and explosive drones at Israeli military positions on Thursday as tensions have soared in the Middle East amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment in Gaza since October 7 last year.
Hezbollah’s latest assault follows the killing of a senior commander, Mohammed Naameh Nasser, by Israeli forces near the southern Lebanese town of Tyre. The group said its latest attack, which followed the launch of over 100 rockets the previous day.
Hezbollah identified Nasser as a key figure responsible for operations in southern Lebanon. Israel, in response to Hezbollah’s attacks, reported no casualties but confirmed strikes on targets in southern Lebanon.
Since October 7, tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified, marked by frequent cross-border exchanges of fire. The situation has raised concerns internationally, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressing deep worry over the escalating violence and its potential to destabilize the entire region.
“The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, coupled with the ongoing Gaza conflict, poses a significant risk to regional peace and security,” said Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, on Wednesday.
In response to Hezbollah’s offensive, Israel’s military confirmed it had targeted launch sites in southern Lebanon and intercepted most of the incoming projectiles. Nonetheless, fires broke out in several areas of northern Israel following the attacks, heightening tensions further.
Meanwhile, the Gaza conflict at the center of these regional tensions continues unabated. Gaza City witnessed heavy clashes, air strikes, and artillery shelling on Thursday, marking the eighth consecutive day of intense fighting. The toll on civilians has been severe, with casualties mounting on both sides.
According to the latest figures from the health ministry, at least 38,011 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in ongoing Israeli bombardment in Gaza since October 7.
The Israel-Hezbollah border clashes have killed at least 496 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally. Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed on their side of the UN-patrolled border.
The Gaza war at the heart of the regional tensions has meanwhile raged on, and gun battles, air strikes and artillery shelling rocked Gaza City for an eight-day on Thursday.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least five people were killed in a strike that hit a Gaza City school.
Fears of renewed heavy fighting have also surged in Gaza’s southern areas near Khan Younis and Rafah after the military on Monday issued a sweeping evacuation order that the UN said impacted 250,000 people.
Witnesses reported air strikes and intense artillery shelling in western Rafah on Thursday.
Israel has faced international condemnation over the soaring civilian death toll, punishing siege and mass destruction in Gaza.
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, this week again called for an end to the “maelstrom of human misery”.
US President Joe Biden, under growing domestic pressure over Washington’s support for Israel, in late May outlined a roadmap for a six-week ceasefire and exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
There has been little progress since, but Hamas said Wednesday it was communicating with officials in Qatar and Egypt as well as Turkey with an eye to ending the conflict.
Hamas said its political chief Ismail Haniyeh had “made contact with the mediator brothers in Qatar and Egypt about the ideas that the movement is discussing with them with the aim of reaching an agreement”.
Netanyahu’s office and the Mossad intelligence service said “Israel is evaluating the (Hamas) remarks and will convey its reply to the mediators”.
The main stumbling block so far has centred on Hamas’s demand for a permanent end to the fighting — a demand Netanyahu and his right-wing nationalist government allies strongly reject.
