Jerusalem, January 7 (EFE). – Israeli aircraft attacked positions of the Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon this Sunday after intercepting an “enemy aircraft” that had flown into Israel.
The Israeli army reported in a statement that its anti-aircraft system intercepted the aircraft in the Even Menachem area of northern Israel last night.
Israeli warplanes subsequently launched strikes in several areas of southern Lebanon against Hezbollah targets, after which they discovered explosions that indicated there were weapons at the attacked points, he stressed in a statement.
Hezbollah fired at least 62 projectiles on Saturday against one of the main intelligence centers in northern Israel. This was their first reaction to the assassination of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas's number two, Saleh al Arouri, on Tuesday on the outskirts of Beirut in a bombing attributed to Israel.
The Lebanese Shiite group confirmed that five of its fighters were killed by Israeli attacks, including with white phosphorus, on Saturday in a particularly violent day on the Israel-Lebanon border.
The Israeli-Lebanese border is experiencing its highest tension since the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, after a resurgence in aggression by pro-Palestinian militias the day after war broke out between the Islamist group Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip last October 7 .
Hostilities have increased following the bombing that killed Hamas deputy chief Saleh Al Arouri in Beirut on Tuesday. The act is attributed to Israel, which neither acknowledged nor denied the operation.
Israel has deployed more than 200,000 troops to its northern border, where violence has also displaced thousands of residents. About 80,000 people were evacuated from communities in northern Israel and more than 70,000 fled southern Lebanon. EFE
Lar/Lab