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On the southern border of Lebanon, the situation is increasingly worrying due to intensified artillery exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel, as well as the involvement of the Palestinian element.
Hamas fighters in Lebanon announced on Monday the formation of a new movement, “the Vanguards of the Al-Aqsa Flood,” whose mission is to “liberate Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque” and called on Palestinian youth to enlist in it, in what appears to be a replay of Yasser Arafat’s ill-fated Fateh Land, which operated on the bangs of Lebanese sovereignty in the 1960s and the 1970s.
Hamas’s announcement, a flagrant attack on Lebanon’s sovereignty, elicited no official reaction. The government remains absent, leaving Hezbollah and now the Palestinian Islamist group in charge on the southern front.
If Palestinians in Lebanon expand the "resistance front" against Israel from the South, they will be more vulnerable to a large-scale Israeli attack.
As the exchange of fire continued at the border, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held talks with the American ambassador, Dorothy Shea, at the Grand Serail on Monday afternoon.
The southern front was particularly violent, with Israel and Hezbollah stepping up their bombardments on both sides of the border.
The pro-Iranian group announced that it had attacked several Israeli sites, including Birkat Risha, Jal Al-Alam, Al-Raheb, Al-Baghdadi, Roueissat Al-Alam in Kfarchouba and the Shebaa farms. Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for attacks on Israeli infantry units in Horj Hanita, Karm Al-Touffah (east of the Branit barracks), Shtula and Mesgaf (Upper Galilee).
Israel responded by bombing a large number of villages, targeting homes and agricultural land, among others. An Israeli drone dropped two missiles on an empty house near the Moussa Abbas compound, north of Bint Jbeil. A woman and her son were slightly injured by shards of glass. The Israeli army also announced that it had attacked a Hezbollah arms depository.
In addition, artillery shells targeted a house near Maroun al-Ras Park. An uninhabited house caught fire in the village of Em el-Tout (western sector), and so did another in Bint Jbeil, following air raids.
Israeli artillery also bombed four new homes in Mays al-Jabal, as well as three others that had already been targeted.
The Israeli army also targeted the areas of Hamames, Labbouneh, Mohaybib, Aita al-Shaab, Kfar Kila, Kfarchouba, Dhayra, Al-Qaouzah, Ramya, Tayr Harfa and Al-Jabin.
Phosphorus bombs were dropped on the area between Odaisseh and Kfar Kila, and flare bombs were dropped on Kfar Kila.
Throughout the day, Israeli reconnaissance aircraft flew at low altitudes over the western and central sectors, including Naqoura, Alma al-Shaab, Marwahin, Dhayra, Aita al-Shaab, Rmeish and Yaroun. Earlier in the morning, an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft flew at low altitude over the Rachaya region and the western heights of Mount Hermon as far as Deir el-Ashaer on the Lebanese-Syrian border.
Hamas fighters in Lebanon announced on Monday the formation of a new movement, “the Vanguards of the Al-Aqsa Flood,” whose mission is to “liberate Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque” and called on Palestinian youth to enlist in it, in what appears to be a replay of Yasser Arafat’s ill-fated Fateh Land, which operated on the bangs of Lebanese sovereignty in the 1960s and the 1970s.
Hamas’s announcement, a flagrant attack on Lebanon’s sovereignty, elicited no official reaction. The government remains absent, leaving Hezbollah and now the Palestinian Islamist group in charge on the southern front.
If Palestinians in Lebanon expand the "resistance front" against Israel from the South, they will be more vulnerable to a large-scale Israeli attack.
As the exchange of fire continued at the border, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held talks with the American ambassador, Dorothy Shea, at the Grand Serail on Monday afternoon.
The southern front was particularly violent, with Israel and Hezbollah stepping up their bombardments on both sides of the border.
The pro-Iranian group announced that it had attacked several Israeli sites, including Birkat Risha, Jal Al-Alam, Al-Raheb, Al-Baghdadi, Roueissat Al-Alam in Kfarchouba and the Shebaa farms. Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for attacks on Israeli infantry units in Horj Hanita, Karm Al-Touffah (east of the Branit barracks), Shtula and Mesgaf (Upper Galilee).
Israel responded by bombing a large number of villages, targeting homes and agricultural land, among others. An Israeli drone dropped two missiles on an empty house near the Moussa Abbas compound, north of Bint Jbeil. A woman and her son were slightly injured by shards of glass. The Israeli army also announced that it had attacked a Hezbollah arms depository.
In addition, artillery shells targeted a house near Maroun al-Ras Park. An uninhabited house caught fire in the village of Em el-Tout (western sector), and so did another in Bint Jbeil, following air raids.
Israeli artillery also bombed four new homes in Mays al-Jabal, as well as three others that had already been targeted.
The Israeli army also targeted the areas of Hamames, Labbouneh, Mohaybib, Aita al-Shaab, Kfar Kila, Kfarchouba, Dhayra, Al-Qaouzah, Ramya, Tayr Harfa and Al-Jabin.
Phosphorus bombs were dropped on the area between Odaisseh and Kfar Kila, and flare bombs were dropped on Kfar Kila.
Throughout the day, Israeli reconnaissance aircraft flew at low altitudes over the western and central sectors, including Naqoura, Alma al-Shaab, Marwahin, Dhayra, Aita al-Shaab, Rmeish and Yaroun. Earlier in the morning, an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft flew at low altitude over the Rachaya region and the western heights of Mount Hermon as far as Deir el-Ashaer on the Lebanese-Syrian border.
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