Violent explosions were heard in the Tire region of southern Lebanon at dawn on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse journalists, as Israel announced it was carrying out strikes in response to rocket fire. who targeted him.
The airstrikes began shortly before midnight in Gaza and the bombardment of Lebanon around 4 a.m. Israel time in Lebanon. The Israeli army claimed to have “hit targets, including Hamas-owned terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon”. This is the first time that Israel has confirmed that it has attacked Lebanese territory since April 2022.
France recalled on Friday “its unwavering attachment to the security of Israel and the stability and sovereignty of Lebanon”. Faced with the tensions of the past few days, Paris calls on “all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid any action likely to lead to an escalation”, said François Delmas, the deputy spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. France also reiterated “its strong condemnation of the indiscriminate rocket attacks that targeted Israeli territory from Gaza and southern Lebanon”.
For its part, Russia on Friday called on Israel and the Palestinians to stop the “escalation” of violence and find a compromise. “We call on the parties concerned to refrain from confrontation and to take action to prevent further escalation, end the violence and restore a lasting ceasefire,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
These strikes are the latest episode in a sharp rise in tension in the Middle East since Wednesday, after a relative lull in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict observed since the start of Ramadan on March 23.
One of the residents of the Rashidiya Palestinian refugee camp, near Tyre, Abu Ahmad, told AFP that he “heard explosions”, adding that “at least two shells fell near the camp”. An AFP correspondent in this region said that a shell had fallen on the roof of a house in a plantation near the camp, causing material damage.
The pro-Iranian Hezbollah channel, Al Manar, said the bombings targeted three areas in southern Lebanon, including the Rashidiye camp area.
The Israeli army announced before dawn on Friday that it was carrying out strikes “in Lebanon”, from which more than 30 rockets were fired into Israel the day before, without further details.
On Thursday, the day of Passover, around 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, injuring one person and causing material damage, in an escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese front unparalleled since 2006.
These shootings took place the day after the violent irruption of the Israeli police in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam, in order to dislodge Palestinians who had barricaded themselves there.
Israel said it was certain that the unclaimed rocket attacks from Lebanon were “Palestinian,” and likely the work of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. “We will strike our enemies and they will pay the price for every attack,” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said.
“Israeli Defense is ready to meet any threat, on any front,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.
The Israeli military says it “will not allow the terrorist organization Hamas to operate from Lebanon and holds the Lebanese state responsible for any fire directed [at Israel] from its territory”. No casualties were immediately reported on either side following the night’s clashes.
Hamas said it held Israel “responsible” for the escalation and called on “all Palestinian factions to unite to confront [it]”. “Every explosion will be met with an explosion […] and any attack on Al-Aqsa or the [Muslim] worshipers will find a response,” added Islamic Jihad.
The outbreak of violence on Israel’s northern border has prompted condemnation and calls for restraint, such as the violence the day before in the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel.
