Hezbollah repels Israel attack near UNIFIL post

Netanyahu threatens to make Lebanon another Gaza

BEIRUT:

Hezbollah said it had forced Israeli troops to retreat on Tuesday after they crossed into Lebanon near a UN peacekeeping (UNIFIL) post following Israel’s announcement last week it was conducting ground incursions.
Hezbollah fighters fired at “an Israeli enemy force that infiltrated from behind the international forces’ position in Labboune”, a border village close to the coast, the Iran-backed group said.
The group said they “forced the infiltrating enemy force to withdraw behind the border strip”.
Earlier Tuesday, Israeli army spokesperson Nadav Shoshani told reporters “we are in ongoing conversations and contact with UNIFIL to make sure they are not in the line of fire between Hezbollah and us”.
The Israeli army said about 85 projectiles were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, including the city of Haifa, as Israeli air strikes targeted a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut.
“In the areas of the Upper Galilee, Central Galilee, and Haifa Bay, approximately 85 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement, adding that the military also targeted “key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold of Dahiyeh” in southern Beirut.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon Tuesday it could face destruction “like Gaza” as Israel ramps up its ground offensive against Hezbollah along the southern section of the Lebanese coast.
Netanyahu’s stark warning came as the Israeli military deployed more troops and urged civilians in coastal areas to evacuate.
“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” Netanyahu said in a video address directed to the people of Lebanon.
“I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.”
Hezbollah earlier said it fired rockets at the Israeli port city of Haifa, after the Israeli military reported 85 projectiles crossing from Lebanon.
On its Telegram channel, the Israeli military said its 146th Division began “limited, localised, targeted operational activities” against Hezbollah targets and infrastructure in southwestern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it hit Hezbollah’s south Beirut bastion, where a strike last month killed the militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah later said it repelled Israeli troops who “infiltrated from behind” a UN peacekeepers’ position in the southern border village of Labboune.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader said despite Israel’s “painful” strikes, the group’s leadership structure was in order and its military capabilities were “fine”.
“Netanyahu says he wants to bring back” the displaced to their homes in northern Israel, Qassem said.
But “we say that many more residents will be forced to flee” their homes, he warned.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant later said Hezbollah “is a battered and broken organisation, without significant command and fire capabilities, with a disintegrated leadership following the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah”.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 41,965 people in Gaza, most them civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.