Israeli night raid rattles Hezbollah

AFP | Jerusalem

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The Israeli military said yesterday it struck six Hezbollah “infrastructure sites” and a weapons storage facility in southern Lebanon overnight, as fears grew of a fullblown war. The air force “struck Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the areas of Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam in southern Lebanon,” a military statement said.

In a separate statement, the military said two drones crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon yesterday. They fell in areas near Beit Hillel and Yaara, causing no injuries but one sparked a blaze that Israeli firefighters were extinguishing, the statement added. The United States said yesterday that Hezbollah must stop its attacks against Israel if it wants to ease tensions in the region. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech following the explosion of thousands of communications devices in a stunning assault widely attributed to Israel, vowed to keep fighting Israel “until the aggression on Gaza stops.”

The State Department referred to Nasrallah’s remarks when explaining a call by Secretary of State Antony Blinken against “escalatory actions by any party” in the Middle East. “Nasrallah could stop the attacks across Israel, and I guarantee you, if he did that, we would be impressing upon Israel the need to maintain calm on their end. Bottom line is, he hasn’t stopped those attacks,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. “So as long as Hezbollah is launching attacks across the border, of course Israel is going to launch military action to defend itself, as any country would,” Miller said.

Unprecedented blow

The leader of Hezbollah acknowledged yesterday that his group had suffered an “unprecedented” blow when thousands of operatives’ communication devices exploded across Lebanon in deadly attacks it blamed on Israel. In his first speech since the attacks, which killed 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 across two days, Nasrallah struck a defiant tone, vowing that Israel would face retribution. Even as he delivered his televised address, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut.