The latest attacks come as Israeli officials increase calls for an expansion of fighting along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
At least two people have been reported killed in southern Lebanon as cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel continues amid the threat of wider war.
The two killings were the result of Israeli attacks on the outskirts of the town of Aitaroun, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported on Saturday. The agency said Israeli missiles targeted a cafe near a gas station.
In a statement, Hezbollah accused Israel of “targeting civilians,” while the Israeli military later said its forces had targeted a Hezbollah fighter in the area. The identities of those killed were not immediately known.
Also on Saturday, Hezbollah said it fired Falaq 2 rockets at a military command center in northern Israel. A security source told Reuters news agency it was the first time rockets had been fired at Israel. Falaq 1 rockets have been used several times by Hezbollah in attacks against Israel.
The violence comes as Hezbollah and Israel have intensified cross-border fighting that has persisted since October last year, with the Lebanon-based group saying it seeks to divert Israeli resources from the war in Gaza.
However, Israeli officials have stepped up their rhetoric in recent days, raising the prospect of an even more destructive escalation along its northern border.
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was “prepared for a very intense operation” along its border with Lebanon.
“One way or another, we will restore security to the north,” he said on Wednesday. That day, an Israeli soldier was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in the town of Hurfeish. Ten others were injured.
Meanwhile, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir went further, declaring on Telegram on Tuesday that “all Hezbollah strongholds should also burn and be destroyed”, and calling for “war ! The day before, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had called for a “land invasion” to push Hezbollah fighters back from the border.
For his part, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem told Tel Aviv Tribune earlier this week that the group was not seeking to expand the war, but was nonetheless “ready.” He warned of “devastation, destruction and displacement” of Israelis if that happened.
Israeli attacks since October 7 have killed more than 300 Hezbollah members and about 80 civilians, according to the group and Lebanese officials. Lebanon’s attacks on Israel killed 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, the Israeli military said.
The fighting is the most volatile since Israel and Hezbollah entered the war in 2006. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes on both sides of the border.
Cross-border fighting continues
On Saturday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for six attacks against Israel. They included targeting the Zarit barracks and Israeli soldiers in a new artillery firing range in the occupied Shebaa Farms. The group claimed a “direct hit” in both cases.
Israel said it had intercepted two rockets coming from Lebanon towards the Zarit area in the Upper Galilee region. The army also said its planes struck infrastructure in the Khiam region. Its tanks had previously fired on a Hezbollah military structure in the Kfarkela region.
Israeli attacks using “phosphorus incendiary shells” also caused forest fires in the Alma ash-Shaab region, ANI reported.
Speaking at a joint news conference with US President Joe Biden in the French capital Paris on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron called on both sides to de-escalate the situation.
France, which had occupied Lebanon following the partition of the Ottoman Empire, has sought to act as an intermediary between Israel and Hezbollah amid the recent surge in violence.
Macron said France and the United States were “redoubled efforts together to avoid a regional explosion, particularly in Lebanon.”
Paris is working to “advance the parameters” to reduce tensions and end what it calls an institutional vacuum in Lebanon, he added.
Meanwhile, the former head of Mossad’s intelligence collection department, Haim Tome, told Israeli media outlet Hayom on Saturday that a war with Hezbollah would seriously harm Israel’s ability to function as a nation.
Tome warned that an all-out war with Hezbollah would mean attacks deeper inside Israel, possibly targeting Tel Aviv.
The former official also warned that Hezbollah could use its large arsenal, which includes precision missiles, to target Israeli gas fields.
