Israel claims first airstrikes in years in Lebanon
Smoke rises in the towns of Ibl Al-Saqi and Kfar Hamam in southern Lebanon, following the bombing by Israeli forces on August 4, 2021. AFP - MAHMOUD ZAYYAT
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The Israeli air force claimed responsibility for its first airstrikes in years in Lebanon on Thursday, saying it targeted rocket launch sites in the wake of fire from South Lebanon into northern Israel.
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Army fighter jets have targeted launch sites and infrastructure from which rockets have been fired into Lebanon with the purpose of terror,
" the IDF wrote in a brief statement. The Israeli air force regularly bombs suspected positions of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip and also carries out strikes in neighboring Syria, where it targets positions of pro-Iranian elements. But its last known airstrikes in Lebanon were in 2014, the IDF confirmed to AFP.
They are part of the exchange of fire at the border.
On Wednesday August 4, three rockets were launched from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel: two of them fell on Israeli soil and the third did not cross the border.
Shortly after the fire, the Israeli army launched three rounds of strikes towards neighboring Lebanon.
UNIFIL's call for calm
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz called for a "
strong message
" to be sent to
UNIFIL
, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, deployed in the south of the country on the border with Israel, to after the Ministry of Defense.
Present in Lebanon since 1978, UNIFIL has been monitoring the Israeli border since 2006 in coordination with the Lebanese army and ensuring the application of Security Council resolution 1701, adopted after the war between Israel and Hezbollah, a very Lebanese armed movement. influential in southern Lebanon who did not comment on the shootings.
The commander of the UN mission, General Stefano Del Col, called on "the parties" to "
cease the fire and exercise maximum restraint to avoid an escalation, particularly on this solemn anniversary
," said Wednesday. UNIFIL in a press release, on the first anniversary of the explosion at the port of Beirut.
On August 4, 2020, the explosion of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate left 214 dead, more than 6,500 injured and devastated several neighborhoods in the capital of Lebanon, a country mired in the worst socio-economic crisis in its history.
(With
AFP
)
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