Vienna, January 10, 2024 (KAP) Fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in Lebanon is expanding. After the death of a Sunni Hamas official in Lebanon, Hezbollah intensified its attacks against targets in Israel. A senior Hezbollah commander was also killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Sunday. Lebanese expert Stefan Maier from the “Orient Christian Initiative” (ICO) spoke about a new tactic used by Hezbollah on the ORF program “Religion aktuell” on Tuesday night. Israel fires on Christian villages in southern Lebanon in particular, and the Israeli army's retaliatory fire is directed against these villages. The situation in the villages is very difficult and dangerous, a resident told ORF.
As APA reported, there was new mutual shelling on the border between Lebanon and Israel on Wednesday. The Israeli military said it attacked a military compound in Naqoura in the border area early in the morning after being attacked from there. It also said the army attacked “terrorist infrastructure” and a military complex near Labbouneh in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese security sources said locations in the western part of the Lebanese border area were also targeted. On Wednesday night, the Israeli military said it also struck a command center in the Lebanese border village of Kafr Shuba. Hezbollah in Lebanon said on Wednesday that one of its fighters from the village was killed. Hezbollah typically does not give details about when and where its fighters were killed.
Since the start of the Gaza war on October 7, there have been repeated clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah militia on the border between Israel and Lebanon. There have been deaths on both sides. Thousands of people, including many Christians, have already had to flee southern Lebanon. It is the worst escalation since the second Lebanon war in 2006.
Maronite bishops sound the alarm
Maronite bishops in Lebanon, however, have sounded the alarm about the expansion of the war from Gaza into Lebanon. The bishops, led by Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai, recently issued a statement calling on the international community to intervene to prevent a new war between Hezbollah and Israel. The effective disarmament of all non-state armed forces in Lebanon is necessary, as required in UN Resolution 1701 (2006).
Regarding the war in the Holy Land, the Maronite bishops condemned “the killings, destruction and violence” carried out by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers, particularly against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They called for a permanent ceasefire as a starting point for negotiations on a two-state solution.
UN Resolution 1701 ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and called for the disarmament of all non-state forces in the country and the demilitarization of the entire area between the Israeli-Lebanese border and the Litani River. However, these clauses were never implemented.