JERUSALEM: A US envoy was in Israel to press for deescalation with Lebanon, as an Israeli official said Hezbollah had fired more than 5,000 projectiles across the border since the start of the Gaza war.
Israel and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on Israel which triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
US Presidential Special Envoy Amos Hochstein met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team in Jerusalem days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on a Middle East tour that a Gaza ceasefire was the best way to resolve the Hezbollah-Israel violence.
“I can confirm that (US President Joe) Biden’s envoy... met with our prime minister,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told a press briefing.
It came as Mencer said Hezbollah has fired over 5,000 rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosive UAVs at Israeli territory since hostilities started.
“We are defending against Hezbollah aggression. There is no territorial dispute between Lebanon and Israel,” Mencer said.
Hochstein also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, with whom he discussed “the relentless attacks and rocket fire from Hezbollah, instigated by Iran, toward Israel’s northern towns and cities,” according to a statement from the presidential office.
Hezbollah says it has carried out more than 2,100 military operations against Israel since October 8, the day after Hamas’s attack, according to a statement released by the militant group last week.
Hezbollah escalated attacks last week after its leading commander Taleb Abdallah was killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Jouaiyya on Tuesday. The Israeli army described him as “one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders in southern Lebanon.”
That prompted the Iran-backed Lebanese movement to launch targeted strikes on several Israeli army bases, it said.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Sunday warned that “Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation — one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region.”
The United Nations has expressed concern about the recent escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border and warned of the danger of miscalculation causing a wider escalation.
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Biden envoy in Israel as northern border tensions flare
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Biden envoy in Israel as northern border tensions flare
- Hochstein also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, with whom he discussed “the relentless attacks and rocket fire from Hezbollah
Israeli forces open fire on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, no injuries reported
JERUSALEM: Israeli military forces opened fire on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Sunday, in an incident the UN peacekeeping mission described as a serious violation.
None of the UN forces were reported wounded.
Israeli soldiers had opened fire on two suspects in the El Hamames area near the Israeli border, only later realizing that they were UN peacekeepers, the military said in a statement.
The military said the peacekeepers were misidentified due to poor weather conditions. The incident was under review, it said.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said the Israeli forces had fired from a Merkava tank positioned inside Lebanese territory toward the peacekeepers, who were on foot. Heavy machine gun fire landed five meters from the peacekeepers, who were forced to seek shelter, it said.
The Israeli tank withdrew after peacekeepers contacted the Israeli military through official channels, UNIFIL said.
UNIFIL called the incident a “serious violation” of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which, among other provisions, states that no armed forces should be operating in southern Lebanon except the UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese military.
The Lebanese military said in a statement that Israeli violations of its sovereignty caused instability within the country and hindered its own forces from deploying in the south.
The Israeli military occupies five posts within Lebanon and frequently carries out airstrikes in the country’s south that it says are targeting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last year that required the Lebanese militant group not to have any weapons in the south and for Israeli forces to fully withdraw from Lebanon.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rearm, while Lebanon’s government accuses Israel of violating the agreement by not withdrawing and continuing to carry out airstrikes.
None of the UN forces were reported wounded.
Israeli soldiers had opened fire on two suspects in the El Hamames area near the Israeli border, only later realizing that they were UN peacekeepers, the military said in a statement.
The military said the peacekeepers were misidentified due to poor weather conditions. The incident was under review, it said.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said the Israeli forces had fired from a Merkava tank positioned inside Lebanese territory toward the peacekeepers, who were on foot. Heavy machine gun fire landed five meters from the peacekeepers, who were forced to seek shelter, it said.
The Israeli tank withdrew after peacekeepers contacted the Israeli military through official channels, UNIFIL said.
UNIFIL called the incident a “serious violation” of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which, among other provisions, states that no armed forces should be operating in southern Lebanon except the UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese military.
The Lebanese military said in a statement that Israeli violations of its sovereignty caused instability within the country and hindered its own forces from deploying in the south.
The Israeli military occupies five posts within Lebanon and frequently carries out airstrikes in the country’s south that it says are targeting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last year that required the Lebanese militant group not to have any weapons in the south and for Israeli forces to fully withdraw from Lebanon.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rearm, while Lebanon’s government accuses Israel of violating the agreement by not withdrawing and continuing to carry out airstrikes.
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