BEIRUT: An Israeli soldier and several Hezbollah fighters were killed in clashes along the Israeli-Lebanese border on Monday.
The Israeli sergeant was killed in a drone attack in Western Galilee, the Israeli military said, as the situation in southern Lebanon continued to deteriorate.
Hezbollah said on Monday it had detected “the infiltration of a contingent of Israeli soldiers into the vicinity of the border town of Aita Al-Shaab at dawn.”
The group said its rocket fire and artillery shelling forced the Israelis to retreat.
Later that day Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over southern Lebanon, extending to Chouf, Beirut, and its southern suburbs.
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According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, the violence since October has displaced more than 110,000 people in southern Lebanon.
Israel said its aircraft “attacked Hezbollah military buildings in Aita A-Shaab, Beit Lif, and Houla, and targeted the towns of Hanin and Tyre Harfa in southern Lebanon on Monday.”
The Israeli military also used heavy machine guns in a night operation near the Blue Line on the outskirts of the towns of Naqoura, Jabal Al-Labouneh, and Jabal Al-Alam.
Phosphorous bombs fired by the Israelis in the Tal Nahas area, meanwhile, caused a fire near a UNIFIL post.
An Israeli raid on the outskirts of the town of Yarin on Sunday resulted in injuries to three soldiers from the Ghanaian peacekeeping contingent serving under UNIFIL, whose patrol happened to pass near the area.
The Public Health Emergency Operations Center in Lebanon said two people were killed in an Israeli attack on the town of Houla. Hezbollah announced the deaths of two of its members, Abbas Melhem, aged 34, from Majdal Selm, and Mohammed Qadouh, aged 19, from Ghandouriya in southern Lebanon.
On Monday, Israeli media reported that sirens sounded in the settlements of Zar’it and Shtula in Upper Galilee, in areas surrounding the city of Acre and the settlement of Nahariya, and later in Hanita in Western Galilee.
It followed the explosion of drones launched from southern Lebanon toward the settlement of Ya’ara in Western Galilee near the Lebanese border.
Israeli media reported that the attacks left at least one person dead and six injured.
One report said that “at least three (injured people), one of which (was) in (a) critical condition, were transported to the medical center in Nahariya.”
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the drone attack, saying it came “in response to Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon in the past two days.”
The party said in statements that it launched “a coordinated aerial attack with a squadron of assault drones on the Israeli Ya’ara barracks — the headquarters of the Western Brigade 300 — and the Saint Jean base — the logistical base for the Northern Command.”
Hezbollah said it also targeted the Zarit Barracks and a group of soldiers in its vicinity with rockets and artillery shells, setting it on fire. It also reported targeting the Bayad Blida site with a Burkan rocket, “achieving a direct hit.”
Israeli media said three drones and 10 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward the Western Galilee.
On Sunday, Israel intensified its operations by targeting the town of Batoulyeh near the city of Tyre, the village of Dhayrah, and the town of Shebaa in the far south, which left one Hezbollah member, Fady Qassem Kanaan, dead.
Hezbollah carried out 10 operations on Sunday including against the Zebdine and Zarit barracks, the Ruwaysat Al-Alam, Al-Malikiyah, Al-Marj, Ruwaysat Al-Qarn, and Jal Al-Alam sites, and buildings used by soldiers in the settlements of Shtula and Misgav Am.
The operations also targeted the headquarters of Al-Sahl Battalion in the Beit Hillel barracks “in response to the targeting of the town of Shebaa.”
MP Ghayath Yazbek of the Lebanese Forces parliamentary bloc emphasized the need to implement UN Resolution 1701.
“It is best to implement it with the least possible damage,” said the MP. “Nothing will save Lebanon except the immediate implementation of UN Resolution 1701 because it will be implemented sooner or later.”
He added: “We are facing a long war of attrition between Israel and Hamas.”
Yazbek also warned that though Israel would suffer if the war expands, it would also destroy Lebanon.
He added that Hezbollah “is dealing with us, those who chose the state model, as if we were an insurance company.
“It decides and fights wars, and we compensate for the states of madness it goes through.”
He added: “Hezbollah knows well that it cannot win a war against Israel, but it is telling the Lebanese that ‘I do not care if I win or not.’”
