Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah fired a fresh round of rockets targeting military bases at Mount Meron in northern Israel on Tuesday, February 27. According to Israeli media, no casualties were reported from the attack.
Hezbollah claimed the strikes were “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza strip and in solidarity with their brave and honorable resistance, and in response to the Zionist aggression on the outskirts of the city of Baalbek in the Beqaa [valley]” a day earlier.
On Monday, the Israeli strike in Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon killed at least two civilians. A senior Hezbollah commander, Hassan Salami, was also killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. Four more people were killed in similar strikes on Sunday in different parts of the country.
Hezbollah had immediately responded with a barrage of missiles targeting the Israeli military’s air control base at Meron and at several other locations in its northern parts and in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa farms and the Syrian Golan.
The group also downed an Israeli military drone used for surveillance and attacks over Nabatiyeh by firing a surface-to-air missile.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday reiterated threats to increase attacks inside Lebanon in the coming days irrespective of the outcome in the ceasefire talks in Gaza.
Talks are currently on to finalize a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. The current proposal calls for a 40-day cessation of hostilities through the month of Ramadan. At least 40 hostages will be released by Palestinian resistance groups in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners and increased humanitarian aid.
“In the event of a temporary truce in Gaza, we will increase the fire in the north, and will continue until the full withdrawal of Hezbollah and the return of the residents to their homes,” Times of Israel reported Gallant saying.
Gallant also reiterated that his country will not accept Hezbollah’s presence in the border areas and is ready to use force against them. Hezbollah has however defied Israel’s calls and instead sought the finalization of the border by liberation of Lebanese territories which Israel still occupies despite being forced to withdraw from its decades-long occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.
Hezbollah has been targeting northern Israel ever since the war on Gaza began on October 7. Close to 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 70,000 wounded in the Israeli war on Gaza.
Hezbollah claims that the attacks inside northern Israel will stop only after a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza.
Israel has refused to adhere to the international calls for ceasefire in Gaza and has instead repeatedly targeted southern Lebanon, killing scores of civilians and Hezbollah fighters and destroying a significant amount of civilian infrastructure. It has also targeted several locations in Syria.
According to reports, a total of over 214 people, including some Hezbollah fighters, have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 8 in Lebanon. At least 16 Israelis, the majority of them soldiers, have been killed so far in Hezbollah retaliation in the same period.
Israeli media claims around 80,000 Israeli settlers have been displaced from the northern parts of the country due to Hezbollah strikes. Hezbollah has threatened that if Israel tries to escalate the war in southern Lebanon, they will prevent settlers from returning for a very long period.
