• Thursday, 04 July 2024

Renewed shelling between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

Renewed shelling between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

Beirut/Tel Aviv, 25 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Renewed shelling continued Thursday on the Lebanese-Israeli border, resulting in the wounding of a woman on the Lebanese side, a security source said.

 

The Israeli military said two Hezbollah "hostile aerial targets which crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory fell adjacent to Kfar Blum post."

 

The army said no injuries or damage were reported.

 

In retaliation, Israeli warplanes attacked a number of pro-Iranian Hezbollah “military targets” in southern Lebanon.

 

The army added that the strikes targeted military sites and also locations that would be used by "Hezbollah's air activities," in reference to drones.

 

Hezbollah has claimed two drone attacks on a site of the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system near Kfar Blum.

 

The Shiite organization also said it had attacked Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms area.

 

Lebanese security sources said that a woman was injured in the Israeli shelling on the Lebanese southern town of Basourieh, about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border.

 

A Lebanese security source in south Lebanon told dpa that Israel over the past week has increasingly attacked deep inside the Lebanese territories and has mainly destroyed houses and buildings in southern Lebanon.

 

The aim is to completely expel Hezbollah from the area, he said.

 

“The Israelis are gradually establishing a buffer zone in the border area, especially now that all the Lebanese villages near the border are empty and houses normally used by Hezbollah fighters have been destroyed,” he said.

 

He added that the focus of the Israeli military now is to destroy areas south of the Litani River.

 

"Israel is trying to enforce UN Security Resolution 1701 gradually," he said.

 

UN Resolution 1701, which ended a 33-day war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006, has banned the presence of Hezbollah militias south of the Litani River near the border area with Israel.

 

The resolution has also called for the Lebanese army to be stationed in areas close to the border with Israel.

 

The Israeli troops, in turn, had to retreat behind the UN-demarcated Blue Line at the border between Lebanon and Israel.

 

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war On October 7, Hezbollah has repeatedly launched missiles into northern Israel from areas north and south of the Litani river, prompting civilians living in northern Israel to leave their homes.

 

Photo: EPA