Two Hezbollah fighters stand near Katyusha rockets in the southern village of Ein Qana, Lebanon. Photo: AP/Mohammed Zaatari.
Several Israeli soldiers were injured by Hezbollah on Sunday as the group ramped up operations in solidarity with Gaza
Hezbollah pounded Israeli military sites on the Lebanese border on 4 December for the third day since the collapse of the Gaza-Israel truce.
“In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their brave and honorable resistance, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance, at 11:30 noon on Monday 12/4/2023, targeted a gathering of Israeli occupation soldiers east of Misgav Am with guided missiles and it was directly hit,” the group said in a statement.
The Ruwaisat al-Alam site near the occupied Kfar Shuba hills and Shebaa Farms area was struck with “appropriate weapons” half an hour earlier.
Hezbollah also struck the Al-Baghdadi site at 9:00 AM, resulting in “direct hits.”
An Israeli military spokesman announced at around noon that the army struck a number of sites in southern Lebanon in response.
Eight hours earlier, at 1:00 AM, the resistance group attacked “a gathering of Israeli occupation soldiers in the Shtula forest, as well as the Al-Raheb site with appropriate weapons, and direct hits were achieved.”
Israeli troops near the Lebanese border came under heavy fire from Hezbollah on 3 December.
The group launched “seven operations targeting the bases, sites, and deployment of the Israeli enemy army in the eastern and western sectors on the Lebanese-Palestinian border,” Hezbollah’s media channel said.
Hezbollah Targets Israeli Positions, APC, and Infantry Groupings
Israel’s Ziv Medical Center in the city of Safed said that twelve Israelis were injured in an attack on the Beit Hilal site, around two miles from the border. The army also announced four injuries.
“It was not clear if the other victims were soldiers or civilians,” Israeli media outlet The Times of Israel said.
The last three days have witnessed a significant escalation of crossfire on the Lebanese border, which had come to a stop during the seven-day truce in Gaza.
Hezbollah also carried out several operations against Israeli sites on 2 December.
The day before, Friday 1 December, saw Hezbollah launch its first attacks on Israel since the start of the seven-day ceasefire in Gaza. The attacks came in response to the resumption of Israel’s brutal bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday, which killed hundreds in the following 24 hours alone.
Israel also resumed its indiscriminate strikes on homes and civilian areas in south Lebanon, killing two civilians, a man and his mother, in the town of Hula.
The Lebanese resistance did not officially announce its participation in the Gaza truce, but vowed that any attack on Lebanon during the ceasefire period would result in a response.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has clarified in his recent speeches that the intensity of the fighting in south Lebanon will depend on the situation in Gaza, and that the group’s operations aim to alleviate pressure on the Palestinian resistance.
