Smoke rising from Israeli sites in the Upper Galilee after being subjected to missile attack from southern Lebanon (Al Jazeera)

Lebanese Hezbollah announced on Friday that it had targeted an Israeli military site and barracks, achieving “direct hits,” while Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati spoke of “positive” diplomatic contacts to stop the Israeli aggression against Lebanon.

The party said that its fighters targeted the Ruwaisat al-Alam site in the occupied Kafar Shuba hills, and achieved direct hits. It added that its fighters attacked the Metula military site with a march, and hit a tank inside it. They also targeted two gatherings of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Zarit barracks and the Jal al-Alam site with artillery shells.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that 4 missiles were fired at two Israeli sites in the Kafr Shuba hills and the occupied Shebaa Farms.

Israeli bombing

On the other hand, Israeli fighters launched a raid on the town of Aita al-Shaab, and Israeli artillery bombed the surroundings of the towns of Khiam and Kafr Kila, in southern Lebanon.

Al Jazeera's correspondent said that Israeli military aircraft launched two raids this evening, Friday, on the towns of Khiam and Taybeh, south of Lebanon.

In turn, the official Lebanese News Agency reported that the town of Kafr Kila, Wadi Al-Asafir in the town of Khiam, the outskirts of the town of Al-Adisa, Tallet Al-Hamamas, and the outskirts of the town of Hula (south) were subjected to Israeli artillery shelling.

The agency added that Israeli warplanes carried out an aggression by launching a raid on a house in the town of Aita al-Shaab (south) with two air-to-surface missiles and completely destroyed it.

An Israeli Merkava tank in Metulla also targeted a house in the Lebanese city of Khiam with two shells, and Hamams Hill and the eastern outskirts of the town of Al-Adissa were subjected to Israeli bombing, without any casualties reported on both sides, according to the same source.

Mikati: The government is continuing its contacts to stop the Israeli aggression against Lebanon (Al Jazeera)

Diplomatic communications

In a related context, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati described on Friday the results of the diplomatic contacts he is carrying out internationally and in the Arab world to stop the Israeli aggression against Lebanon so far as “positive.”

Mikati reiterated that the government is continuing its diplomatic contacts internationally and in the Arab world to stop the Israeli aggression against Lebanon.

He added that the results of these contacts so far appear to be positive, without neglecting a fundamental issue, which is that it is not possible to rely on any positive position or guarantee provided by the Israeli enemy.

Mikati said, "From the first day of the start of the Israeli aggression, his government formed an emergency committee to follow up on the situation in southern Lebanon and the southerners, and it is continuing its work to provide the necessary assistance to those displaced from their villages, according to available capabilities."

International parties, led by the United States and France, are conducting a diplomatic movement aimed at containing the escalation on the southern Lebanese front, after about 6 months of mutual clashes between Hezbollah and Israel, in the wake of its war on the Gaza Strip.

On March 15, Lebanon submitted its official response to France to the Paris Initiative, which aims to end hostilities with Israel and reach a settlement regarding the disputed border with Lebanon, and calls on Hezbollah fighters to withdraw 10 kilometers from the border, according to international reports.

For his part, US Presidential Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hockstein held discussions with Israeli and Lebanese officials during repeated visits to both Tel Aviv and Beirut over the past months, to discuss a ceasefire on the southern border.

And “in solidarity with the Gaza Strip,” which has been subjected to a devastating Israeli war with American support since October 7, 2023, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions in Lebanon have been exchanging bombardments with the Israeli occupation army since the eighth of that month, leaving dead and wounded on both sides of the “Blue Line,” most of them in Lebanon.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies