The latest fighting on the northern border saw clashes between the Israeli military and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah on Saturday. The background was the fear that a second front could open up as Israel wages war against terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces, the clashes began on Saturday afternoon after around 30 mortar shells were fired at military positions in the contested Mount Dov area on the border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack and said it fired mortars and anti-tank missiles at the locations.
The IDF said it shelled the source of the fire with artillery and carried out a drone strike on a terrorist cell that was planning an anti-tank missile attack against troops in the area.
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The military initially did not provide any information about possible losses among IDF troops.
The clashes came hours after the IDF said Saturday morning it had killed three terrorists who were trying to cross into Israel from Lebanon.
An IDF armored personnel carrier is seen in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel. October 13, 2023. (Ayal Margolini/Flash90)
Three suspected drones were also shot down over northern Israel overnight, as was a missile fired at a military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The IDF said it carried out a drone strike against a Hezbollah site in Lebanon in response.
Israel has clashed with Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions in Lebanon several times in recent days, although the attacks have been limited. At least four Israeli soldiers, three Hezbollah terrorists and five Palestinian terrorists were killed in the clashes.
The IDF has bolstered its forces in northern Israel amid fears that the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah could open a second front in the war sparked by last weekend’s unprecedented Hamas attack from the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of them civilians, were killed.
On Friday, the IDF declared some areas in the northern city of Metula a military exclusion zone. Metula had in recent days recommended residents leave the city amid tensions.
An image taken from southern Lebanon on October 9, 2023 shows an Israeli Merkava tank driving in the Israeli border town of Metula. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
Given the high alert, Hezbollah said Friday it was “fully prepared” to join its Palestinian ally Hamas in the war against Israel when the time is right.
Iran has also threatened a broader confrontation.
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, Israel struck the terror group’s targets in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the unprecedented Hamas attack, killing about 2,200 people. The IDF also said it killed about 1,500 terrorists in Israel.