Hezbollah targets occupation gatherings and American talk about a possible Israeli ground operation

Israeli raids on southern Lebanon have not stopped since October 8 (Reuters)

The Lebanese Hezbollah announced the implementation of 5 attacks on Israeli sites, and while the occupation army continued to bomb many areas in Lebanon, American officials suggested that Israel would launch a ground operation, while the Prime Minister of the Lebanese caretaker government, Najib Mikati, spoke about that the truce in the Gaza Strip would lead to an end to the fighting. In Lebanon.

The party said that its fighters bombed the Elon settlement with Katyusha rockets, in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians.

The party also bombed with missiles and artillery shells two gatherings of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of “Cobra Hill” and the “Jal Al-Alam” site, and targeted the Ramtha site in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

The party also announced that it had targeted spy equipment at the Ruwaisat al-Alam site in the occupied Shebaa Farms and caused direct casualties there.

In this context, Hezbollah announced, today, Thursday, the killing of one of its members in confrontations with the Israeli occupation army on the southern border of Lebanon, bringing the death toll to 220.

Since the eighth of last October, 220 members of Hezbollah, 11 of the Amal Movement, 12 of Islamic Jihad, and 12 of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in addition to 45 civilians and soldiers in the Lebanese army and a member of the Internal Security Forces, have been killed in When 6 Israeli civilians and 11 soldiers were killed as a result of border clashes, according to what Anatolia Agency monitored.

Israeli raids

On the other hand, the surroundings of the towns of Rashaya Al-Fakhar, Kafr Hamam, Al-Wazzani, Naqoura, and the Labouneh area were exposed to Israeli artillery shelling.

The official Lebanese news agency reported that Israeli aircraft carried out mock raids by breaching the sound barrier in the airspace of the Tire, Nabatieh, and Iqlim al-Tuffah regions in southern Lebanon.

According to the agency, Israeli aircraft launched a raid on the outskirts of Beit Lev towards the Ghazar-Ramiyeh junction, and also launched a series of successive raids on the valleys adjacent to the towns of Al-Quzah and Beit Lev in the south of the country.

Israeli warplanes were flying in the skies of the south in the early morning, while reconnaissance planes continued to fly during the night and into the morning over the villages of the western and central sectors, reaching the outskirts of the city of Tyre, amid continued firing of flares over the border villages adjacent to the Blue Line in the south, according to the agency. .

Ground operation

On the other hand, US administration officials suggested that Israel would launch a ground operation in southern Lebanon at the end of the spring or the beginning of the summer.

CNN quoted US administration officials as saying that many officials in the Israeli government believe that the ground operation should be carried out in southern Lebanon.

According to American officials, the administration of President Joe Biden warned of the possibility that the Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon would lead to a major escalation whose dimensions are unknown.

American officials said that American envoy Amos Hockstein tried to reach a diplomatic solution, represented by the establishment of a buffer zone, and added that Israel vowed that a military operation was very likely if his talks failed.

cease-fire

News of the potential Israeli ground operation came at a time when Hezbollah announced that it would stop launching attacks on Israel when the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip stopped.

Party leader Hassan Fadlallah said that the war in the south is linked to the aggression against Gaza on the one hand, and to securing means of protection for Lebanon on the other hand.

He added in statements he made during the memorial service for a Hezbollah field commander - who was killed in an Israeli raid this week - "When the (Israeli) occupation stops its aggression against Gaza, this front stops, because it is a supportive front."

Last Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that Israel plans to increase attacks on Hezbollah if a ceasefire is reached in the Gaza conflict.

Mikati is confident that Hezbollah will cease fire if Israel does the same (Al Jazeera)

Mikati refers to talks

Also on the Lebanese level, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said - today, Thursday - that the truce that may begin in the Gaza Strip next week will lead to indirect talks to end the fighting along the southern border of Lebanon.

Reuters quoted Mikati as saying that he was confident that Hezbollah would cease fire if Israel did the same.

Mikati stressed that it was impossible to begin any negotiations while what was happening in Gaza continued, adding that since the seventh of last October, Lebanon has been exposed to violations by the Israelis every day.

When asked whether Hezbollah had shown flexibility to move forward with the talks, Mikati noted that the cooperation shown by all parties to facilitate the maritime agreement could be replicated in the land border agreement.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies