The death toll from the Israeli raid that targeted the city of Nabatieh rose to 7 (French)

The Civil Defense in southern Lebanon said that 9 civilians were killed and dozens were injured in several Israeli raids on towns in the south of the country. Hezbollah also mourned 3 of its fighters who died in the raids.

The official Lebanese News Agency announced that the death toll in the Israeli raid that targeted the city of Nabatieh had risen to 7. The raid was carried out with a drone that fired two missiles at a residential building in the Al-Maslakh neighborhood of the city located in southern Lebanon. Rescue teams are working to search for potential victims among the rubble.

Reuters quoted a hospital director and three Lebanese security sources as saying that 11 civilians, including 6 children, were killed in a barrage of Israeli strikes on villages in southern Lebanon yesterday, Wednesday.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported renewed Israeli raids on southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces launched two raids on the Labouneh area in the western sector.

Israeli fighters launched a series of air strikes on the towns of Al-Suwanah and Adshit, the vicinity of the town of Al-Taybeh, and on towns in Iqlim Al-Tuffah. Israeli artillery also bombed the vicinity of several border towns, following the Hezbollah missile attack on military bases in the vicinity of the city of Safad, yesterday morning.

For his part, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safi al-Din, said, “The Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon will not pass without a response, and this response will be at the required and appropriate level,” as he put it.

The Lebanese government announced, on Thursday, that it intends to submit an urgent complaint against Israel to the UN Security Council, after 7 people were killed in a raid on an apartment in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement, “Given the continuation of the Israeli aggression, the fall of martyrs, and the massive destruction caused by the aggression, I consulted with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdullah Bou Habib, about the situation, and requested that a new urgent complaint be submitted against Israel to the UN Security Council.”

Mikati condemned "the prolonged Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon and the new massacres it is committing against Lebanese citizens." Mikati added, "At a time when we stress the calm and call on all parties to commit to non-escalation, we find the Israeli enemy persisting in its aggression."

Targeting Safed

On the other side of the border, the Israeli occupation army told Khamis today that its warplanes bombed dozens of Hezbollah targets in the Wadi Saluki area in southern Lebanon, and added that it bombed Hezbollah infrastructure in the Labouneh area in southern Lebanon.

Yesterday, an Israeli soldier was killed and 8 soldiers were injured, some of them in critical condition, as a result of a missile attack from the Lebanese side that targeted military bases in the vicinity of the city of Safed, bringing the number of Israeli civilian and military deaths in the border areas with Lebanon to 18.

The Israeli army confirmed the bombing, indicating that it attacked the source of the rocket launch. Israeli media reported that the number of rockets reached 8, and that the attack was the most dangerous on the northern front since the outbreak of the war.

The Israeli army announced that it had completed a wave of large-scale raids on sites in Lebanon, including targets of the Radwan Force affiliated with Hezbollah, and added that it had targeted sites in Jabal al-Bureij, Kafr Huna, Kafr Donin, Adshit, and al-Sawwanah, including military buildings and operations rooms.

Earlier, Israeli War Council Minister Benny Gantz said that the one responsible for launching rockets from Lebanon is not only Hezbollah, but the Lebanese state, which allows firing from its territory, vowing that “the response will come soon and forcefully.”

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy announced that the army "is prepared for an all-out war if necessary to achieve calm, return the residents of the north to their homes, and create a new security reality in the region."

For his part, former opposition Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the Israeli War Council had surrendered to Hezbollah and that the Israeli red lines had become a white flag, in a clear criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.

As for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, he announced angrily that what is happening in Lebanon is an actual war, and that it is time to abandon the established hypothesis and deal with what is happening as a real war.

Iron Dome failure

The Israeli media reported on the failure of Iron Dome to confront the missile attack that targeted the Northern Command yesterday, a military base in Safed, and an air base in Meron.

The Israeli Walla website reported that the Israeli army is facing harsh criticism of its air defense system due to its failure to repel the attack.

The Israeli army announced, through its internal front, at dawn today, the closure of several main axes of roads and streets adjacent to the border with Lebanon, and a ban on movement on them, in view of the escalation of tension in the region.

In the wake of a devastating Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, since October 8, 2023, the Israeli-Lebanese border has witnessed an exchange of fire between the Israeli army on the one hand, and Hezbollah and Palestinian factions on the other hand, which led to deaths and injuries on both sides of the border.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies