Israeli fighter jets strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

Tel Aviv/Amman/Cairo: Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets, in parallel to Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) tank and artillery strikes, in response to the fire from Lebanon toward Israeli territory earlier today. Many launches were identified crossing from Lebanon toward the area of communities in northern Israel. No injuries were reported.

IDF stated that the Hezbollah targets struck included terror infrastructure, rocket storage sites, and military compounds. Besides, in response to two “terrorist” cells attempting to fire from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, the IDF said it struck the cells and a Hezbollah observation post. (Watch a related video by clicking the link: https://bit.ly/3tWOEo9)

In Jordan’s capital Amman, the United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and shared his “deep concern” about exchanges of fire along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel and stressed the importance of ensuring the Israel-Hamas conflict does not spread elsewhere.

Blinken thanked Mikati for his leadership in preventing Lebanon from being pulled into a war “that the Lebanese people do not want”, as well as his efforts with regional partners to pursue durable and sustainable peace in the region. They also discussed the US efforts to secure humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza and noted that Lebanon needed to select a President to lead the country through both the regional and domestic crises.

Mikati today also met with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo and expressed appreciation for Egypt’s “responsible role in this grave crisis at both the political and humanitarian tracks”. President El-Sisi reviewed Egypt’s efforts to push toward achieving a ceasefire and allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Both El-Sisi and Mikati underlined the “critical need” for the international community to assume its responsibilities in this regard, by working intensively on containing the situation and averting the expansion of the scope of violence. They stressed the necessity to relaunch the peace track and apply the principle of the two-state solution, “in a way that achieves justice, security and stability for the peoples of the region”.

Meanwhile, Israel claimed that over the past day, there were numerous attempted attacks on IDF troops from tunnel shafts and military compounds in the northern Gaza Strip. It said the IDF troops operated in the area and killed Hamas terrorists, located their weapons, and uncovered tunnel shafts that were used for terror purposes.

As the ground operation continued, the IDF troops claimed to have killed “dozens of terrorists” and destroyed Hamas terror infrastructure today morning.

During combat with Hamas yesterday, IDF troops engaged with 15 terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip, killing several of them, and directed tank fire to destroy three Hamas observation posts.

Also overnight, in a targeted raid in the southern Gaza Strip, IDF armoured and engineering corps operated to map out buildings and neutralize explosive devices. During the operation, the troops encountered a terrorist cell exiting a tunnel shaft. In response, the troops fired shells toward the terrorists and killed them.

During ground operations in the Gaza Strip, combat engineering troops created access routes, cleared the area of explosive devices, and neutralised terror infrastructure and terrorist cells found in the area.

Furthermore, combat engineering and infantry soldiers located and struck military compounds used for planning and executing terror activities.

– global bihari bureau