Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel on Saturday, warning that the barrage was its first response to the targeted killing of a top Hamas leader in the Lebanese capital earlier this week, presumably by Israel.
The rocket attack came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his group must retaliate for the killing of Saleh Arouri, the deputy political leader of the militia-allied Hamas, in a Hezbollah stronghold south of Beirut. He said that if Hezbollah did not strike back, all of Lebanon would be under Israeli attack. He appeared committed to responding to the Lebanese public, even at the risk of escalating fighting between Hezbollah and Israel as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on.
Hezbollah said it fired 62 rockets at an Israeli air surveillance base on Mount Meron, scoring direct hits. It said rockets also hit two army posts near the border. The Israeli military said about 40 rockets were fired at Meron and a base was attacked, but did not mention that the base had been hit. It said it hit the Hezbollah cell that fired the rockets.
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Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon hit the edge of the village of Kouthariyeh al-Siyad, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said, adding that there were casualties. Such attacks deeper in Lebanon have been rare since border fighting began nearly three months ago. NNA also said Israeli forces had shelled border areas including the town of Khiam. Israel's army had no immediate comment.
An Israeli military vehicle moves along the Gaza border as smoke rises after an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel, Saturday, January 6, 2024. In Gaza, Israel is in the process of limiting its military assault in the north of the territory and is stepping up its serious offensive in the south, promising to destroy Hamas. Leo Correa / AP
Separately, the Islamic Group's armed wing in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood's branch in the country and a close Hamas ally, said it fired two volleys of rockets into the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on Friday evening. Two members of the group were killed in the attack that killed Arouri.
The cross-border escalation came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken embarked on an urgent diplomatic trip to the Middle East, his fourth trip to the region since the Israel-Hamas war broke out three months ago. The war was sparked by a deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages.
In recent weeks, Israel has scaled back its military assault in northern Gaza and pressed ahead with its heavy offensive in the territory's south, vowing to crush Hamas. In the south, most of Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians are being pushed into smaller areas by a humanitarian disaster while they are still hit by Israeli airstrikes.
On Saturday, the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said 122 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 22,722 since the war began. The count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. According to the ministry, two thirds of those killed were women or children. According to the ministry, the total number of injured rose to 58,166.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in downtown Deir al-Balah received at least 46 bodies overnight, according to hospital records seen by The Associated Press. Many were men who had apparently been shot. Fighting broke out between Israeli forces and militants in the area. According to the documents, the dead also included five members of a family who were killed in an air strike.
Recent leaflets dropped by Israel urged Palestinians in some areas near the hospital to evacuate, citing “dangerous fighting.”
In the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, the focus of Israel's ground offensive, the European Hospital received the bodies of 18 people killed in a nighttime airstrike on a house in the Maan district, said Saleh al-Hamms, head of the hospital the nursing department of the hospital. Citing witnesses, he said more than three dozen people had taken refuge in the house, including some displaced people.
Israel has blamed Hamas for civilian casualties and said the group had integrated itself into Gaza's civilian infrastructure. Nevertheless, international criticism of Israel's behavior in the war has increased due to the rising number of civilian deaths. The United States has called on Israel to do more to prevent harm to civilians even as it continues to send weapons and ammunition while shielding its close ally from international criticism.
Blinken began his final Middle East trip on Saturday in Turkey. The Biden administration believes Turkey and others can exert influence, particularly on Iran and its proxies, to curb fears of a regional conflagration. These fears have increased in recent days with incidents in the Red Sea, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.
In talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Blinken asked for Turkish support for emerging plans for the postwar Gaza Strip, which could include cash or in-kind support for reconstruction efforts and some form of participation in a proposed multinational force that could operate in or adjacent to the area.
From Turkey, Blinken traveled to Turkish rival and NATO ally Greece to meet Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at his home on the island of Crete. Mitsotakis and his government have supported U.S. efforts to prevent the expansion of the Israel-Hamas war and signaled their willingness to help if the situation worsens.
Further stops on the trip include Jordan, followed on Sunday and Monday by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Blinken will visit Israel and the West Bank next week before concluding the trip in Egypt.
The European Union's foreign policy chief said during a visit to Beirut that he wanted to launch a European-Arab initiative to revive a peace process that would lead to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Josep Borrell said he would visit Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
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