Lebanon resistance force Hezbollah launched a barrage of missile attacks inside northern Israel in retaliation to fresh Israeli air strikes in Houla in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, March 5 that killed at least three civilians.
Hezbollah claimed it carried out almost a dozen retaliatory attacks throughout the day on various locations inside northern Israel, targeting mostly military installations. It also launched dozens of rockets towards the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona.
Israeli media reported no significant material damage was caused by the Hezbollah attacks despite it being the one of the largest since October 8, a day after the Israeli war in Gaza began and Hezbollah launched attacks in support of the Palestinians.
However, Lebanese Al-Manar reported heavy damages in several Israeli settlements including Avivim where Hezbollah had targeted Israeli tanks with anti-tank missiles.
Israel also launched a second airstrike in southern Lebanon in Taybah late in the evening calling it a response to Hezbollah strikes at Kiryat Shmona. There were no reports of casualties in that attack.
Meanwhile, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant yet again threatened to carry out an all out war against Lebanon. “Hezbollah’s aggression brings us closer to the decision point regarding our military action in Lebanon,” Gallant was reported as telling Amos Hochstein, the mediator sent by the US to find a political solution between Lebanon and Israel.
Though Gallant told Hochstein on Tuesday that his country is “committed to the political efforts to reach an agreement” with Lebanon, he has openly boasted about the killings of Lebanese people in Israeli air strikes and threatened “Gaza-like” destruction of southern Lebanon in recent weeks.
Gallant has also threatened that even if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, Israel will wage a war in Lebanon with the objective of pushing Hezbollah away from its northern borders.
Despite Gallant’s threats, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who also met Hochstein, reiterated his country’s stance that the only way peace can be achieved in the region is if the world community takes steps to stop Israel’s wars.
“In order for this region to know peace and prosperity, Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon and Gaza must stop and Israel must be compelled to implement international resolutions, especially resolution 1701” Mikati asserted.
The UN Security Council adopted resolution 1701 in 2006 asking for the complete Israeli withdrawal from all Lebanese territories. However, Israel still controls some parts of the Lebanese territory in violation of the resolution.
Mikati also demanded that Israel must withdraw from all the Lebanese territory it has been occupying for decades.
Replying to repeated Israeli threats of war, head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary block Mohammad Raad underlined that in case of any such war, the Zionist entity would be the “biggest and strategic loser.” He claimed that Hezbollah has not used its real potential while retaliating against Israeli aggression in southern Lebanon yet.
Raad claimed that Hezbollah does not seek a war but Israel should know that it is prepared against any such misadventure initiated by Israel which “would have dire consequences.”
Hezbollah has expressed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza after Israel started bombing the besieged territory on October 7 which has killed close to 31,000 Palestinians so far. It has demanded the end of the war in Gaza and the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory. Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes and targeted killings inside Lebanon in response, killing close to 300 people, a large part of them civilians.
