Hezbollah fired over 180 rockets towards Israel, at least 7 people were injured

Last update:November 24, 2024, 21:04 CEST

Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, more than 40 Lebanese soldiers have been killed in Israeli attacks

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah began last October. (Reuters)

Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in the militant group’s heaviest fire in several days in response to deadly Israeli attacks in Beirut, as negotiators continued ceasefire efforts to halt an all-out action war.

Meanwhile, an Israeli attack on a Lebanese army center killed one soldier and wounded 18 others on the southwestern coastal road between Tire and Nakuura, the Lebanese military said. The Israeli military expressed regret and said that the strike took place in an area of ​​fighting with Hezbollah, adding that its actions were directed solely against the militants. The strike was analyzed.

Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, more than 40 Lebanese soldiers have been killed in Israeli attacks, even though Lebanon’s army has largely stayed on the sidelines.

Lebanon’s deputy prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an attack on U.S.-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message that rejects all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after a Hamas attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which started a war there. Hezbollah portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel carried out retaliatory airstrikes against Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict escalated into all-out war when Israel carried out waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s supreme leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several top commanders.

The Israeli military said some of the missiles fired on Sunday were intercepted.

The Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom said it helped seven people, including a 60-year-old man in a serious condition after being hit by rocket fire in northern Israel and a 23-year-old man who was slightly injured by an explosion in the central city of Petah Tikva and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke poisoning from a car that caught fire there.

In Haifa, a rocket hit an apartment building that police said was in danger of collapsing. It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by missiles or interceptors.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, Israeli airstrikes struck downtown Beirut without warning on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and injuring 66. Smoke billowed over Beirut again on Sunday, a sign of new strikes.

According to the Ministry of Health, more than 3,500 people died in Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The fighting killed approximately 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians were killed in bombings in northern Israel and in the battles that followed the Israeli ground invasion in early October. About 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the north of the country.

The Biden administration has been trying for months to negotiate a ceasefire, and U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week.

The European Union’s top diplomat called on Sunday for increased pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach an agreement, saying one of them was “awaiting a final agreement from the Israeli government.”

Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group.

Borrell said the EU was ready to commit 200 million euros ($208 million) to help the Lebanese army deploy additional forces in the south.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the month-long 2006 war. Lebanese troops will patrol the area in the presence of UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon’s army reflects the country’s religious diversity and is respected as a national institution, but it does not have the military capacity to impose its will on Hezbollah or withstand an Israeli invasion.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a news agency feed – Related press)

Location:

Beirut, Lebanon