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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that what is happening in Gaza is a message to Hezbollah. “The Israeli army will continue to respond to all threats targeting” the north of the Hebrew State, he said during a press conference. “The party that pushes us towards war will pay a heavy price. We will do everything in our power to protect our citizens,” insisted Gallant, asserting that “what is happening in Gaza is a message to Hezbollah.”
“We are in a state of defense on the Lebanese front, and our forces are ready to respond to any aggression from the north. We will do everything in our power to defend the independence of our country,” added the Israeli Minister, as artillery exchanges between Hezbollah and the Israeli army resumed in earnest on Monday afternoon in southern Lebanon, after a brief truce in the middle of the day.
The Israeli army launched incendiary bombs in the vicinity of Aita al-Shaab and Tallet al-Raheb. It also shelled the forests and olive groves between Deir Mimas and Tell Nahas in Kfarkila. During the late afternoon, Israel fired phosphorus bombs over an army barracks in Ras Naqoura, causing a fire in the premises.
The Hebrew state also shelled the towns of Chihine, al-Jibine, Majdel Zoun and Labbouné in the western sector. More than 50 shells landed in the latter village.
For the first time since 2006, Israeli attacks extended to the area between the towns of Kfar Tibnit and al-Hamra, with a 155mm shell landing in agricultural land.
The Israeli army also announced that it had intercepted rockets in the Naharaya region in northern Israel. In the afternoon, it carried out a sweep from the al-Marj site to the Hounein valley, opposite the town of Markaba. “We attacked Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon after militants opened fire on an Israeli site on the Lebanese border,” said Israel in this context.
For its part, Hezbollah claimed on Monday to have targeted technical equipment in the Israeli town of Mtalleh, causing direct damage. The Hezb also claimed to have targeted technical and intelligence equipment at the Bayad Blida site, alongside Dechmeh and its guard post.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Lebanese army announced that it had discovered 21 missile-launching platforms, including one ready for use, in the areas of Wadi al-Khansa and al-Khraybeh, in the Hasbaya caza, as well as in Qleileh, in the Tyre caza.
Since Sunday, fires have continued to rage in the forests near Naqoura and Alma al-Shaab, as Civil Defense teams have been unable to extinguish them due to bombardments.
New “Rules of Engagement”
The flare-up at the border is being followed with concern in Lebanon, with fears of a major Israeli response if the military “rules of engagement” governing the exchange of artillery fire at the southern border with Israel are broken. Until now, these exchanges of fire have been more or less limited to military targets, with civilians on both sides of the border being spared.
In this context, military sources warned of repeated rocket attacks on Israeli territory by armed Palestinian factions based in southern Lebanon, particularly in the caza of Tyre.
The same sources indicated that the continuation of this bombardment would have “excessively negative repercussions on stability in the southern part of the country and in Lebanon in general.”
According to the same sources, army units deployed in southern Lebanon are stepping up their patrols and combing operations to locate and dismantle rocket-launching bases, in coordination with UNIFIL contingents.
