Tensions rose again on the border between Israel and Lebanon on Sunday. There was one death and several injuries in exchanges of fire on the Israeli side, where the border area was closed to civilians.
Lebanese Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on Shtula in northern Israel, suggesting that it was retaliating by attacking positions of the pro-Iran movement on Lebanese territory.
This exchange comes amid rising tensions on the border between the two countries, where clashes have increased since the deadly war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas began.
The Israeli army has announced that it will block access to the border area with Lebanon for civilians. “A four-kilometer zone from the northern border with Lebanon has been closed,” the army said in a statement.
“One civilian was killed and several people were injured in the attack. The army responded by opening fire, destroying Hezbollah positions and the source of the fire,” Daniel Hagari, an Israeli army spokesman, told reporters.
Hezbollah, for its part, said it had “attacked a military target of the Zionist enemy in the Shtula area with guided missiles” and claimed it was acting in retaliation for “Israeli aggression.”
Lebanon’s NNA news agency reported that artillery fire “from Israeli enemy positions” hit the outskirts of several villages in southern Lebanon, including Aita al-Shaab, Rmeish and Ramia.
Clashes on the border between Israel and Lebanon have intensified since the start of the war, sparked by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas’s unprecedented attack in Israel on October 7, which left thousands of victims on both sides.
They left around ten dead on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters. However, a Portal journalist was killed on Friday and two Lebanese civilians were killed on Saturday. At least two people were also killed on the Israeli side.