US President Joe Biden is said to be “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon” after a huge increase in military strikes on Sunday sparked fears a wider conflict could soon break out in the region
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Lebanese village of Zibqin
Israel’s military says it is staging pre-emptive airstrikes inside Lebanon targeting positions of the Shiite militia Hezbollah in a major escalation that could threaten to develop into all-out war.
Militant group Hezbollah – which is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK – said in turn it had launched hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of one of its top commanders last month.
The heavy exchange of fire threatened to trigger a wider conflict that could draw in the United States, Iran and militant groups across the region. It could also torpedo efforts to forge a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, for over 10 months.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah was planning to launch a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles toward Israel. Soon after, Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israeli military positions as an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, one of its founders, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.
The attacks came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war. Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Iran supports both groups as well as militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen who might join any larger conflict.
Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel and a “large number” of drones. It said the operation was targeting “a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later” as well as “enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome (missile defence) platforms.”
Hezbollah later announced the end of what it said was the first stage of retaliatory strikes, which it said would allow it to launch more attacks deeper into Israel. The group said all the exploding drones it launched hit their targets, without saying how many. It listed 11 bases, barracks, and military positions that it said it targeted in northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
In the U.S., a spokesman for the National Security Council, Sean Savett, said President Joe Biden was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon.”
“At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts,” Savett added. “We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability.”
Last week, Israel’s defense minister said he was moving more troops toward the Lebanese border in anticipation of possible fighting with Hezbollah.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, another Israeli military spokesman, said the military had struck in self-defense.
“We can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians,” he added, without providing details. ”We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm’s way immediately for their own safety,” he added.