Calm returns to southern Lebanon after Israeli bombing

Italian UN peacekeeper soldiers inspect a small bridge that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Maaliya village, south Lebanon, on Apr. 7, 2023. (AP)

• Israeli army warns it will not allow Hamas to operate from Lebanon
• Hamas faces criticism in Lebanon amid calls for arrest and deportation of ‘traitor’ Ismail Haniyeh

BEIRUT: Caution prevailed on both sides of the border between southern Lebanon and Israel on Friday after Israeli airstrikes at dawn, which caused material damage but no reported casualties.
Lebanon announced that it has decided to file a complaint with the UN Security Council, protesting Israel’s “flagrant violation of its sovereignty,” and claiming that Israel had contravened Resolution 1701 and threatened the stability of southern Lebanon.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said on Friday that the Israel Defense Forces had informed it that Israeli forces would begin an artillery response to Thursday’s rocket launches from Lebanon. Immediately after, UNIFIL said its personnel heard loud explosions around the city of Tyre.
UNIFIL said its Head of Mission and Commander Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, was speaking with the authorities on both sides of the Blue Line — the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel and Lebanon and the Golan Heights.
“Our liaison and coordination mechanisms are fully engaged,” it said. “Both sides have said they do not want war.”
At 4 a.m. on Friday, Israeli planes targeted an open area planted with banana trees between the Rashidieh camp for Palestinian refugees and the Maaliyeh plain near the coastal road leading to Naqoura, with three artillery shells.
The Israeli army claimed in a statement that its planes “targeted infrastructure and targets of the Hamas movement in southern Lebanon.”
The army also warned that it would not allow Hamas to operate from Lebanon and said that Lebanon would be held responsible for all attacks carried out from its territory.
The Israeli army later announced the end of its attacks in Lebanon, but added that it would continue its attacks against the Gaza Strip.
The Litani River Authority in Lebanon announced: “The Israeli attack has directly damaged the facilities of the Qasimiyah irrigation project in the Qlaileh area, which is one of the villages of Tyre, about 95 kilometers from the capital, Beirut. The attack targeted a ferry and part of the Qasimiyah irrigation canal that irrigates the orchards in the Qlaileh area and beyond.”
The strike caused damage to an electrical transformer and some damage to homes and cars.
On Thursday night, the Lebanese anxiously awaited the Israeli response to dozens of rockets fired from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee region. No party claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the finger of blame was pointed at Hamas. The attacks are believed to have been carried out in response to Israeli aggression at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
A team of engineering experts specializing in the disposal of shells and explosives from both UNIFIL and the Lebanese army inspected the location of the Israeli attack and found an unexploded missile at the entrance to the Rashidieh camp, near a Lebanese army checkpoint.
At the same time, Israel put its front border posts on alert and its air force conducted sporadic reconnaissance sorties, while the Lebanese army and UNIFIL carried out intensive patrols along the border and in villages and towns within UNIFIL’s remit.
The Lebanese army later announced that a rocket launcher was found in the Marjaayoun plain containing several rockets, and that work was underway to dismantle the device.
In a statement, Hamas condemned “blatant Zionist aggression against Lebanon.”
The Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the UN called for urgent action to stop Israel’s aggression.
In meetings with Palestinian resistance factions in Beirut, Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas, took a bullish stance, saying: “These factions will not sit with their arms crossed in the face of Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa.”
Haniyeh added: “We hold the occupation’s government fully responsible for the brutal aggression against the blessed Al-Aqsa and worshippers.”
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah had held meetings in the second half of March with leaders of Palestinian factions, including Ziad Al-Nakhala, the leader of Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, and Hamas officials, including Saleh Al-Arouri.
In response to the escalation at the border and Hamas’ use of Lebanese lands, some activists on social media mocked what they described as a “ridiculous play.”
Likaa A-Joumhouria, headed by former President Michel Suleiman, said it rejected any notion of “transforming Lebanon into a platform to launch rockets and convey messages” and warned of “the situation’s gravity and impact on Lebanon politically, socially and economically. It also called for authorities to take “the necessary measures to put an end to such security stunts and to identify and punish the perpetrators.”
Former MP Fares Souaid, head of the National Council for Ending Iranian Occupation, said that what happened was “a breach of resolution 1701. It poses a great danger to Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
He added: “It is Hezbollah’s friend, Hamas, that escalated the situation” and said that “trying to outsmart Israel gave it a pretext to attack Lebanon and turn it (Lebanon) into a mailbox. This is an indictable crime, turning the Lebanese into sandbags.”
Fouad Abou Nader, former leader of the Lebanese Forces, called on Lebanese authorities to arrest Haniyeh and immediately deport him, claiming that he is “a traitor to Lebanon and the Palestinian cause.”
He added: “All the activities that Ismail Haniyeh has carried out and continues to carry out have served Netanyahu and united the political scene in Israel.”
He emphasized that Lebanon has “paid a heavy price for the Palestinian cause.”