By Joana Saba with Cyril Julien, AFP
Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Sejoud on 22 March. Photo: AFP / RABIH DAHER
Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Lebanon in response to a rocket attack from across the border, as militant group Hezbollah denied responsibility for the launch.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered "a second wave of strikes against dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon", the defence ministry said, in the largest escalation since a 27 November ceasefire.
It said the strikes were "a response to rocket fire towards Israel and a continuation of the first series of strikes carried out this morning" against southern Lebanon.
Lebanon's official National News Agency reported one girl among five killed in an Israeli strike during the day on the southern town of Touline.
The agency later said another person was killed in an Israeli strike on the key coastal city of Tyre, one of the targets of the new wave of strikes on the south and east, with multiple injuries reported.
Ali Safieddine, of Tyre's civil defence, confirmed to AFP the toll of one dead and said 15 were injured.
Hezbollah denial
The Israeli army said six rockets, three of which were intercepted, had been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the region.
Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attack, and called Israel's accusations "pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon".
Hezbollah said that it stands "with the Lebanese state in addressing this dangerous Zionist escalation on Lebanon".
While Hezbollah has long held sway over parts of Lebanon bordering Israel, other Lebanese and Palestinian groups have also carried out cross-border attacks.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that renewed military operations on the southern border risked "dragging the country into a new war," his office said.
Lebanon's top diplomat Youssef Raggi called for "pressure on Israel to stop the aggression and escalation and contain the dangerous situation on the southern borders".
But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.
"We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.
"The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly," Katz said.
UN 'alarmed'
The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said it was "alarmed by the possible escalation of violence" following the morning's rocket fire.
Hezbollah has long had strongholds in south and east Lebanon, as well as south Beirut, but the war with Israel dealt the group devastating blows, leaving it massively weakened.
Members of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon patrol the road near the border with Israel in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqura. Photo: AFP / MAHMOUD ZAYYAT
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems "strategic".
Israel has carried out repeated air strikes during the ceasefire, targeting what it said were Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.
The Lebanese army said it had dismantled three makeshift rocket batteries in an area north of the Litani on Saturday.
The mayor of the Israeli border town Metula, targeted in Saturday's rocket launch, urged authorities to "act offensively and make it so that not one bullet is fired ever again at northern communities".
Seven 'martyred' in Gaza
Saturday's flare-up came five days into Israel's renewed offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza, which shattered the relative calm since a 19 January ceasefire there.
On Saturday in Gaza City, Sameh al-Mashharawi said "seven people were martyred" in a strike on his family's house that killed his two brothers, their children and wives.
Israel's defence minister said Friday that he had ordered the army to "seize more territory in Gaza".
"The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel," Katz said.
When the first stage of the Gaza ceasefire expired early this month, Israel rejected negotiations for the promised second stage, calling instead for the return of all its remaining hostages under an extended first stage.
That would have meant delaying talks on a lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an attempt to renegotiate the original deal mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
- AFP
