Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Israel has launched air strikes near the northeastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, in the deepest attack into Lebanese territory since its war in Gaza triggered renewed hostilities with the Hizbollah militant group.
Israel’s military on Monday said it had struck targets “used by Hizbollah’s aerial defence array” in the Bekaa Valley in response to the launch of surface-to-air missiles. Hizbollah said two of its fighters were killed.
The incidents are part of an increase in crossfire between Israel’s military and Hizbollah, which have engaged in tit-for-tat attacks since Hamas militants in Gaza mounted a cross-border raid on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
More than 200 fighters and about 30 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, according to a tally by the Financial Times. Seven Israeli civilians and 11 soldiers have been killed by Hizbollah fire since October, according to the Israeli military.
The cross-border strikes had mostly focused on a limited band of territory a couple of dozen kilometres into each country. But Israel has widened its targets in recent weeks, striking a town 60km inland of the coastal city of Sidon as well as Jadra, a city just 30km south of the capital Beirut.
Israel’s attack on Monday targeted an area about 100km from its border with Lebanon. The strikes hit the village of Buday, about 18km from Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, where Hizbollah holds significant sway. Citing security officials, local media channels reported that several strikes hit a convoy of trucks and a food warehouse.
The strikes came hours after Hizbollah said its fighters had shot down an Israeli Hermes-450 drone over areas the militant group controls in southern Lebanon. Another missile was intercepted by Israel.
Hassan Fadlallah, a senior figure in Hizbollah’s political wing, said Israel’s air strikes were to “compensate” for the downed drone.
“Its aggression on Baalbek or any other areas will not remain without response,” he said in televised remarks delivered at the funeral of a Hizbollah fighter.
Hizbollah later said it retaliated for the Baalbek strikes by firing 60 Katyusha rockets towards a command post in Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Israeli military confirmed that dozens of rockets were launched from Lebanon towards Israel.
Hizbollah has said that it would halt its attacks on Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. Hassan Nasrallah, head of the powerful Iran-backed movement, said his forces were acting in “solidarity” with Hamas as the war in the coastal enclave continued. The war in Gaza has claimed the lives of more than 29,500 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.
On Sunday, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant vowed to step up the attacks on Hizbollah, even if a ceasefire was reached with Hamas.
“If anyone here thinks that when we reach an agreement to release hostages in the south and the fire stops [in Gaza] temporarily, this will make things easier here — they are mistaken. We will continue the fire and increase it in a way independent from the south,” he told reporters during a visit to the Israel Defense Forces’ northern command.
No crossfire was reported with Hizbollah during a week-long truce between Israeli forces and Hamas in late November.
Pressure has been mounting on the Israeli government to resolve the situation on its northern border due to the forced displacement of more than 80,000 residents after the escalation of hostilities with Hizbollah. Tens of thousands of southern Lebanon residents have also been forcibly displaced from their homes.
Read the full article here
