The United States has urged Hezbollah not to make the “bad decision” of opening a second front against Israel on the border with Lebanon, a senior US defense official said Monday.
“We are deeply concerned that Hezbollah will make the wrong decision and open a second front in this conflict,” which began on Saturday with Hamas attacks from the Gaza Strip, said this official in Washington, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP). ). ).
Hezbollah bombed two Israeli barracks this Monday using “guided missiles and mortars that directly hit” their targets, in response to the death of three of its members in Israeli attacks, in a border area in southern Lebanon, where militants from Islamic Jihad. Israel.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which claims to support Hamas in its unprecedented offensive launched against Israel on Saturday, claimed responsibility for the infiltration operation, reinforcing fears that the violence would spread to the Israeli-Lebanese front.
Israel bombed southern Lebanon after announcing that it had killed “several armed suspects” who had infiltrated its territory.
In a statement, the Al-Quds brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed “responsibility for the border operation in southern Lebanon.”
Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, denied any involvement in the infiltration operation.
The Lebanese Army said in a statement that the surroundings of Aita al-Chaab and Dhayra, as well as other border areas, were the target of “aerial and artillery bombardment by the Israeli enemy.”
For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati assured that “the government’s priority is to maintain security and stability in southern Lebanon and maintain calm.”
In 2006, a devastating war pitted Hezbollah against Israel, causing more than 1,200 deaths on the Lebanese side, mostly civilians, and 160 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
The Islamic group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli territory this Saturday, called Operation “Al-Aqsa Storm”, with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen by land, sea and air.
In response to the surprise attack, Israel bombed several Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip from the air, in an operation it called “Iron Swords.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is “at war” with Hamas.
The latest report from the Palestinian Ministry of Health records at least 560 deaths due to Israeli airstrikes in Gaza – including dozens of minors and women – which raises the total number of deaths on both sides after the armed clashes that began on Saturday. .
Source: TSF
