Today, Tuesday, the Israeli army bombed several towns in southern Lebanon after a cautious calm had prevailed since the morning hours, while the Lebanese Hezbollah announced a march attack on the headquarters of a brigade of the 91st Division in northern Israel.
This comes as the United Nations expressed its “deep concern” about the risk of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, while Washington called on the party to “negotiate indirectly” with Israel instead of escalating tensions, as it put it.
The UN Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wensland, said during his speech at the Security Council, “I express my deep concern about the danger of escalation, especially between Israel and Hezbollah.”
Regional war
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also said that the US administration “attaches importance to a diplomatic solution to stop the escalation on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border,” stressing that “another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily turn into a regional war.”
The Axios news website also quoted Amos Hockstein, the American envoy to Lebanon, as saying that Hezbollah needs to negotiate indirectly with Israel, stressing that Washington “will not be able to restrain Israel if the situation on the border continues to escalate.”
The website added that Israeli officials informed Washington that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in a war with Hezbollah, and prefers a diplomatic solution.
The Politico website quoted American officials as saying that Hezbollah should not believe that the United States can prevent Israel from attacking it, but rather Washington will help Tel Aviv defend itself if the party carries out any retaliatory strikes.
The officials indicated that the risk of war between the party and Israel “is high this month, and the risk of their misjudgment of the situation has also increased.”
The darkness of Lebanon
In Israel, the resigned minister of the Israeli war government, Benny Gantz, said that Israel is “capable of oppressing Lebanon and destroying Hezbollah’s military capabilities,” stressing that it is necessary to “return the residents of the north and south so that they can live in safety, even if the price is escalation.”
Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi also said that his country and the US administration believe and prefer to focus its attention on the diplomatic track, but if we do not reach a settlement, “we will resort to change by other means.”
He added, “There is a consensus in Israeli society regarding changing the reality near the border with Lebanon.”
He also indicated that the American envoy is “optimistic” and believes that the third phase of the fighting in the Gaza Strip will push Hezbollah to reduce its declared state of support, as he put it.
Drone attack
These statements coincide with a noticeable field escalation, as Hezbollah announced launching an air attack with a squadron of drones on a brigade headquarters of the 91st Division in the Nahal Gershom area in northern Israel.
The party said, in a statement, that the attack “targeted the locations and settlements of enemy officers and soldiers, which led to a number of casualties among them, and the outbreak of fire inside the headquarters in response to the Israeli attack that targeted the Bekaa region” in the east of the country yesterday, Monday.
He stated, in another statement, that he targeted the Israeli site of Bayad Blida (off the Lebanese town of Blida) with artillery shells and hit it directly. He also said that his members “targeted the Barkat Risha site with appropriate weapons and also hit it directly.”
In turn, Israeli Channel 12 said that air defenses intercepted a suspicious air target launched from Lebanese territory.
She indicated that a fire broke out in an open area in the Upper Galilee, as a result of shrapnel falling during the interception of missiles launched from Lebanon, and that 5 fire brigades took on the task of extinguishing it.
The “Israel Hayom” website also reported that another fire broke out in the Dishon area, and an explosion was heard in Ramot Naftali in the Upper Galilee.
Israeli raids
On the other hand, the official Lebanese News Agency said that the Israeli army “dropped shells carried by marches sent from the Miskaf Am settlement for the fifth time today on the town of Taybeh, without recording any casualties.”
She pointed out that Israeli warplanes “carried out several raids targeting the town of Khiam, which was also subjected to artillery shelling and a raid on the eastern neighborhood between the towns of Al-Adissa and Kafr Kila.”
It indicated that “Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the towns of Naqoura and Blida in the western sector.”
The agency reported that Israel “fired machine guns at a vehicle in the Wazzani area, but its driver, who is of Syrian nationality, survived.”
She said that Israeli warplanes violated the sound barrier over the Marjayoun area in two waves, flying at low altitude, causing “a state of panic among citizens.”
Increasing escalation
It is noteworthy that the intensity of escalation has increased in recent weeks between Tel Aviv and Hezbollah, raising fears of the outbreak of an all-out war, especially with the Israeli army’s announcement a week ago of “approving” operational plans for a “massive attack” on Lebanon.
Hezbollah depends on stopping the bombing on Israel ending its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip for the ninth month in a row, which resulted in approximately 124,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women.