Hezbollah fires rockets at Israeli base and says four fighters were killed

Beirut:

Hezbollah said it fired “dozens” of rockets on Thursday at a military base in northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Lebanon, announcing that four of its fighters had been killed.

Fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah have risen in recent weeks as threats have intensified between the sides, who have regularly exchanged cross-border fire since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel triggered the war in Israel. Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, said that “in response to enemy attacks that hit the city of Nabatiyeh and the village of Sohmor,” its fighters bombed “the (Israeli) Northern Area Command’s main air and missile defense base. . with dozens of Katyusha rockets”.

It said in separate statements that four of its fighters, one from Sohmor in eastern Lebanon, were killed and claimed two other attacks on Israeli troops and positions, including one with drones.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “approximately 35 launches have been identified crossing Lebanon.”

Air defenses “successfully intercepted most of the launches. No injuries were reported,” he added.

It stated that the airstrikes “eliminated” three Hezbollah operatives, one in the Sohmor area and two in the south of the country.

The military also said that “two UAVs (drones) that were identified crossing Lebanon crashed” in northern Israel, reporting no injuries.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli strikes in several areas of southern Lebanon on Thursday, and said an attack a day earlier in Nabatiyeh injured “more than 20” people when a two-story building was attacked.

Fears have grown that the war in Gaza could turn into a regional conflagration if the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, which has so far been largely confined to the border area, expands.

The French Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Paris was “extremely concerned” about the fighting, calling on “all sides to exercise utmost restraint.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to Washington on Wednesday that his country did not want war in Lebanon but could send it back to the “Stone Age” if diplomacy failed.

Amid Western diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions in recent months, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Beirut on Tuesday and warned that “miscalculation” could trigger an all-out war, also calling for “restraint extreme.”

The violence killed 485 people in Lebanon, most of them combatants, but also 94 civilians, according to an AFP report.

On the Israeli side, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed, according to authorities.

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