A view shows an Israeli tank and military vehicles near Israel’s border with Lebanon, northern Israel, October 9, 2023. Portal/Ammar Awad ACQUIRES LICENSE
JERUSALEM, Oct 9 (Portal) – Israeli soldiers, aided by helicopters, killed at least two gunmen crossing the border from Lebanon on Monday, the military said. This was a sign of a possible new front opening as Israeli forces fought Palestinian Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.
A Hezbollah official said the group had not conducted an operation in Israel and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials also denied involvement.
Some residents of southern Lebanon said they had abandoned their homes along the border with Israel, while heavy shelling had hit the edges of towns and villages so far.
A series of incidents in recent months had already raised the risk of escalation along the Lebanese-Israeli border ahead of the final days of fighting in Israel and Gaza.
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged artillery and rocket fire on Sunday.
In a statement, the Israeli military said its soldiers had “killed a number of armed suspects who had entered Israeli territory from Lebanese territory.” The number was not discussed in more detail.
Military helicopters are “currently storming the area,” the statement continued.
A security source in Lebanon and a source in the Lebanese border area said a group of men approached the border, one of whom fired at an Israeli observation post.
Israel Army Radio gave the location as being near Adamit, opposite the Lebanese border towns of Aalma El Chaeb and Zahajra.
A spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said the force was aware of an incident on the southern border but had no further details. The Lebanese army had no immediate comment.
Gabi Hage, a father of three with a home near the border, described heavy shelling near him.
“Our house is very close to the border, so we leave the village and go down to the village. All my neighbors do the same thing,” he said.
Reporting by Laila Bassam, Timour Azhari and Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Edited by Hugh Lawson, Nick Macfie and Tomasz Janowski
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