Southern Front: Artillery Shelling, Raids, Fires and Missile Exchange
The southern front ignited from the early hours of Sunday, with Israeli artillery shelling the outskirts of Yaroun and Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon.

A drone strike targeted in the afternoon a house in the Dahr al-Sayyid area in the town of Maaroub in the Tyre district. Another strike was reported on the town of Aita al-Shaab, and another targeted a house in the town of Naqoura in the western sector, causing material damage. The ambulances headed immediately to inspect the targeted house. Camera lenses captured the smoke clouds billowing over the targeted area.

Additionally, it was reported this afternoon that interceptor missiles exploded over the towns of Yaroun and Meiss al-Jabal in the central sector. Drones and reconnaissance aircraft also flew over the western and central sectors.

The Israeli army dropped incendiary bombs on the forests adjacent to the Blue Line on the outskirts of the towns of Marwahin, Dhayra, Aita al-Shaab, and Beit Lif, causing fires that consumed fruit and forest trees. Wind speed and high temperatures caused the fires to spread. Firefighters were facing great difficulty in extinguishing the fires due to the rough terrain.

Early morning, the Israeli media have announced that Hezbollah launched a salvo of rockets from southern Lebanon towards Galilee settlements, reaching as far as Lower Galilee.

A settler has been seriously injured in Kfar Zeitim as a result of the rocket salvo, the Israeli media added. Sirens have sounded across wide areas of Galilee and some northern areas for the first time since the beginning of the war, and explosions have been heard in Karmiel and Lower Galilee. Additionally, Israeli Channel 12 reported at least seven missile interceptions in the Lower Galilee area.

The Israeli army have reported, “We detected approximately 20 operations launched from Lebanon towards the Lower Galilee area, with some successfully intercepted.”

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth have said that rocket warnings were activated in Lower Galilee, noting that shells from Lebanon exploded in open areas, causing fires. The newspaper has also mentioned that drones were launched towards several areas in Lower and Eastern Galilee, with some being intercepted.

At 8:45 AM, Hezbollah have claimed an attack on the surveillance equipment at the Rahib site “with appropriate weapons, achieving a direct hit and destroying it.” Later in the day, it announced that “in response to the attack and assassination carried out by the Israeli army in the Bekaa region,” Hezbollah bombed on Sunday the Nimra base (one of the main bases in the northern region) west of Tiberias with dozens of Katyusha rockets.

Additionally, at around 11:50 AM Hezbollah claimed to have targeted the al-Baghdadi site, the monitoring and air operations management unit at the Miron base on Mount Jarmaq, and Israeli soldiers at the Baraka Risha site “resulting in deaths and injuries among them."

Also today, Israeli artillery have bombarded the outskirts of Yaroun, Maroun al-Ras, Hanine, Blida and Aitaroun. Israeli missiles have exploded in the skies over border villages in the central sector of southern Lebanon.

The tit-for-tat strikes over the border since the war in Gaza started have caused significant damage in Southern Lebanon. To that end, the researcher at Information International, Mohammed Shams al-Din, indicated that “the greatest loss in this war in South Lebanon is human loss,” noting that “it is (almost) equivalent to half the human loss incurred in the July (2006) War” between Israel and Hezbollah which ended with the adoption of UN Resolution 1701.

Shams al-Din added, in an interview with Voice of Lebanon Radio, “The number of completely destroyed homes in the South is 1,880,” adding, “The human loss in the South so far is 493 people.”

 



 
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