Lebanon: Deadly Israeli raids make the UN fear a “dangerous escalation”
The Israeli army announced this Wednesday, February 14, that it had carried out air raids on neighboring Lebanon, after a rocket attack in which a soldier was killed.
An Israeli fighter jet over the border with Lebanon, February 13, 2024 (illustration). AFP - JALAA MAREY
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“
The dangerous escalation must stop
,” the spokesperson for the
UN
Secretary General declared this Wednesday . Washington, for its part, called for favoring the “
diplomatic route
” to reduce tensions in the Middle East, while France, through its Minister of Foreign Affairs, argued that the situation in Lebanon is “
serious, but it is not irreversible
.”
These calls for de-escalation come after the Israeli army carried out new air raids in Lebanon. The army announced that it had targeted “
Hezbollah terrorist targets
” in several locations in the south of the country. According to the Lebanese National News Agency, these strikes killed a woman, her two-year-old son and her 13-year-old stepson in the village of Sawaneh. Another raid completely destroyed a building in the village of Adchit, leaving one dead, a Hezbollah fighter, and ten injured, reports ANI, which reported significant destruction in this locality. The pro-Iranian Islamist movement subsequently confirmed the death of one of its fighters in this village.
These raids, which targeted localities located within a radius of ten to 25 km from the border, were carried out in retaliation for a rocket attack from Lebanon on a military base in northern Israel. According to the Israeli army, the attack left one dead: Sergeant Omer Sarah Benjo, 20 years old. This rocket attack was not claimed by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah.
Israel promises a “
very strong offensive
”
Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi, visiting the north of the country, said on Wednesday that “
the next campaign will be a very strong offensive
”. For his part, a senior Hezbollah official warned that “
this aggression (...) will not go unanswered
.” Already on Tuesday, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, assured that the shooting in southern Lebanon would stop when “
the aggression in Gaza
” ended and a ceasefire would be declared. “
If they extend the confrontation, we will too
,” he added, in response to repeated threats from Israeli officials to start a war against its neighbor.
Read also Faced with tensions in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah appears as protector
Since the day after the bloody Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah has targeted Israeli military positions on the border, in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement. Israel, for its part, regularly bombs southern Lebanon and carries out targeted attacks against leaders of the Lebanese Islamist movement.
In more than four months, at least 248 people, mostly fighters from Hezbollah and other allied groups, but also 33 civilians, have been killed in southern Lebanon, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, 16 people were killed, ten soldiers and six civilians, according to the army. The violence between the Israeli army and Hezbollah has also caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
(
With
AFP)
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