Hezbollah Targets Western Galilee During an Israeli Official’s Tour
Following the Israeli strike against Hezbollah positions in Baalbeck on Monday, attacks between the pro-Iranian group and the Hebrew state escalated on Tuesday, while, according to the US State Department, Israel wants a “diplomatic solution” to its conflict with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah fired a salvo of rockets at western Galilee, while the Israeli Chief of Staff, Herzi Halev, was there. During this tour, Halev declared that Hezbollah “must pay a high price” for its decision to join the October 7 war. Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, declared that “Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are seeking to take advantage of the holy month of Ramadan to turn it into the second stage of the October 7 war,” and that Israel should “stop them.”

On the ground, Hezbollah announced on Tuesday morning that it had twice targeted “the Meron air control base” in northern Israel with a salvo of anti-armor missiles and rockets. In a statement, Hezbollah said that these operations were “in retaliation” for the raids carried out the previous day by Israel in Baalbeck, as well as for Israeli attacks on villages and regions in southern Lebanon.

These attacks “cause no damage or casualties” on the Israeli side, according to the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee. He stressed that in response to these operations, the Israeli air force had attacked and destroyed “a military site” and “military infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah.

The pro-Iranian group also declared late in the afternoon that it had targeted “for the first time, using dozens of Katyusha-type rockets, the command post of the 146th division at Gaaton,” some 8 km from the border.


A salvo of missiles fired from Lebanon also hit the Acre region. According to the Israeli media, rockets from Lebanon reached an area 16 km from the border in western Galilee, for the first time since the opening of the southern front on October 8.

For its part, Israel shelled the Hermel mountains on Tuesday, according to the mohafez of Baalbeck-Hermel, Bashir Khodr. The Israeli army also stepped up its attacks on villages in southern Lebanon, bombing the Saasaa Valley near Rmeich and the Salouqi Valley. It also targeted the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, Chihine, Jebbain, and Tayr Harfa, as well as the villages of Houla, Markaba, and Mays al-Jabal. Two shells also fell on the road between Bourj al-Moulouk and Khiam.

In addition, a bread delivery van was targeted by machine-gun fire from the settlement of Misgav, while on the road between Odaisseh and Kfar Ki

Against this backdrop of escalation, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)  deplored on Tuesday “the worrying evolution of exchanges of fire” and “an intensification of strikes,” claiming that the recent escalation risked “compromising a political solution” to the conflict. The US State Department said that Israel had informed it that it “wants a diplomatic solution” to its conflict with Hezbollah.
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