Lebanon's Hezbollah said it attacked a military base in northern Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for the elimination of a senior military official of the pro-Iran formation and number two of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Lebanon.
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Daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah for three months have increased in intensity since the Jan. 2 attack attributed to Israel that killed Hamas number two, Saleh al-Arouri, and six other Palestinian organization officials and senior Islamist leaders Movement.
This attack on the Hamas office in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, the first outside southern Lebanon, stoked fears of an expansion of the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the powerful Hezbollah said it had attacked “the Israeli army's northern region command center” in the city of Safed with “multiple suicide drones.”
He claimed he was acting in “reaction” to the elimination of a senior military official from the powerful pro-Iran formation, Wissam Tawil, who was killed in southern Lebanon on Monday, and to the killing of Arouri.
The Israeli army confirmed that “an enemy aircraft” had crashed at its base in northern Israel “without causing injuries or damage.”
On Saturday, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at a military base in Meron in northern Israel, an attack that was seen as an initial response to the death of Hamas' number two.
“Commander of Al-Radwan Forces”
On Tuesday, Naïm Qassem, Hezbollah's number two, said Israel's targeted attacks would encourage his formation to “move forward more decisively.”
He described Wissam Tawil, who was killed in an Israeli attack on his car, as a “commander of al-Radwan Force,” Hezbollah's elite unit.
Hundreds of members of the Shiite group attended Tawil's funeral on Tuesday in his village of Cherbet Selm where he was killed, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Israel.
This is the highest-ranking Hezbollah military official killed since the Lebanese Islamist movement opened a front with Israel on October 8 in support of its ally Hamas.
According to the party, Wissam Tawil was involved in the capture of Israeli soldiers who started the Hezbollah war against Israel in the summer of 2006, but also in the war in Syria on the side of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The group also clarified that it has carried out “numerous operations” against Israeli soldiers on the Israel-Lebanese border since October 7, 2023.
Shortly before the funeral began, an Israeli drone targeted a car parked in the village, according to the official Lebanese agency Ani and witnesses.
Diplomatic efforts
Another Israeli attack targeted a car in a southern Lebanon town, Ghandiuriyyé, earlier in the morning, according to Ani.
The attack left “three dead within Hezbollah,” a security source told AFP.
In the afternoon, Hezbollah announced the deaths of four fighters, without providing details.
According to an AFP count, the number of militants killed in the south in the last three months rose to 140. A total of 186 people died there.
According to Israeli authorities, nine soldiers and five civilians were killed in northern Israel.
Several Western officials joined one another in Beirut in calling for Lebanon not to be drawn into the regional conflict.
After the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is expected on Tuesday evening.
While welcoming UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix on Tuesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati reiterated that Lebanon was “ready to begin negotiations with Israel to achieve long-term stability in the south and on the border.”
Around 10,000 soldiers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are stationed in southern Lebanon to form a buffer with Israel.