BEIRUT: Hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army escalated on Tuesday as negotiations over a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages faltered.
In an Israeli raid on the Baalbek-Hermel district, a drone pursued a small truck in the Ras Baalbek Plain, near the city of Hermel, where explosions were heard, and clouds of smoke were visible.
Eyewitnesses said the raid appeared to have targeted the vehicle and that Hezbollah had set up a security cordon in the area.
It was the first time since Israel began attacking the Baalbek area that its raids had reached the far northern Bekaa Valley.
The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corp. said the Israeli army “launched raids on targets in Baalbek in response to the targeting of an air-control unit in Meron.”
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Israeli media reported that “a drone penetrated the Upper Galilee region and Mount Meron and fell without alarms sounding.” The report said the army was investigating to find out why alarms were not activated.
Hezbollah said that it targeted “the Meron airbase with guided missiles in response to the Zionist enemy’s attack on the town of Souairi in the Western Bekaa on Sunday.”
The Israeli army resumed artillery shelling on Lebanese border towns, while Israeli drone flights continued in the south, the Bekaa, and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israeli bombardments struck Al-Mari-Hasbaya district, Maroun Al-Ras in the Bint Jbeil district, as well as Aitaroun and Aita Al-Shaab and the area between Yaroun and Rmeish.
Also, on Tuesday, there was a confrontation between residents of Rmeish and Hezbollah members, the first such face-off since tensions escalated along Lebanon’s southern border.
The residents stopped Hezbollah members trying to set up a rocket launcher on a hill near the town, then gathered in the town square, ringing church bells.
Tensions increased when three Israeli missiles hit the hill.
Rmeish has the biggest parish in the Maronite Diocese of Tyre and residents are preparing to celebrate Easter this weekend.
Sami Gemayel, the leader of the Lebanese Phalange Party, backed the town’s residents.
The Israeli attacks also hit Tair Harfa town, where a spokesperson for the Islamic Risala Scout Association’s civil defense operations room said the bombing caused “extensive harm to the civil defense main office, as well as damage to ambulances and fire engines.”
Hezbollah in turn reported targeting “two buildings in the Avivim settlement, which were being used by occupation soldiers.”
Israeli Channel 12 said that Hezbollah “targeted a wine factory in the same settlement, causing serious damage but no casualties.”
The group also fired at “an Israeli infantry unit in the vicinity of Shtoula with missiles, hitting it directly and leaving its members dead or wounded.”
In the early hours of Tuesday, Hezbollah hit “a building used by Israeli army soldiers in the Shomera settlement,” and “a deployment of soldiers in the Hanita settlement.”
