Israel Facing Multiple Fronts Strikes Lebanon After Attack
By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel faced multiple fronts Sunday, with its army firing artillery into southern Lebanon after terror group Hezbollah targeted three Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms.
At the same time, Israeli soldiers battled Hamas terror group fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday after attacks against Israel killed hundreds on Saturday.
Israel’s military also launched retaliation strikes that leveled buildings in the nearby Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave, while in northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.
Hezbollah, a powerful armed party backed by Iran, said it had launched guided rockets and artillery from Lebanon onto three posts in the Shebaa Farms “in solidarity” with the Palestinian people.
The Israeli military confirmed Sunday it fired artillery into an area of Lebanon where the cross-border mortar fire was launched. “IDF (Israel Defense Forces) artillery is currently striking the area in Lebanon from where a shooting was carried out,” it explained.
Israel’s military said one of its drones struck a Hezbollah post in Har Dov, an area in Shebaa. Israel has held the Shebaa Farms, a 15-square-mile (39-square-km) patch of land, since 1967. Both Syria and Lebanon claim the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese.
UNITED NATIONS INVOLVED
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon did not immediately respond to the latest cross-border battles.
But it announced earlier that it “enhanced its presence“ in southern Lebanon due to developments in Israel and Gaza.
Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon, claimed Saturday it was in “direct contact” with leaders of Palestinian “resistance” groups.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Sunday’s cross-border clashes, which followed Saturday’s surprise attack by Palestinian gunmen from the Gaza Strip on Israel that left at least 250 Israelis dead. Another 230 Gazans were later killed in Israel’s retaliatory bombardment, several authorities said.
Thousands were injured on both sides in the clashes, according to officials. Saturday’s attacks against Israel, which also involved thousands of rockets fired from Gaza, came 50 years after the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack on the Jewish nation.
Besides those killed and injured, dozens of Israelis, including soldiers, men, women and children, are believed to have been captured by militants linked to the Hamas terror group in its unprecedented assault on the Jewish nation.
Hezbollah praised the deadly Palestinian attacks against Israel as a “decisive response to Israel’s continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalization with Israel,“ including Arab countries.
(This is a BREAKING NEWS update of a rapidly developing story. Stay with Worthy News for continued coverage).
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