More than 400 people have been killed in fighting along the Lebanon-Israel frontier since October 8
Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
A wave of Israeli air strikes hit southern Lebanon on Saturday, after UN officials warned that escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah could lead to full-scale war.
More than 90 civilians have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, with about 370 Hezbollah fighters killed also among the dead. Fifteen soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in Israel since October 8.
Hezbollah launched attacks on northern Israel a day after the Hamas-led attack on October 7 that led to the devastating war in Gaza.
On Sunday, the Lebanese group released videos purporting to show an anti-tank guided missile attack on an Israeli observation post, and a drone strike on a military base.
The group said the Meron base was the target of an attack launched “as part of the response to the attack and assassination carried out by the enemy in Jouaiyya”, where Hezbollah commander Taleb Sami Abdallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday.
Israel described Mr Abdullah as “one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders in southern Lebanon”.
Israeli said it bombed Aitaroun and Chihine, both close to the border, with Hezbollah infrastructure the targets of the attacks on Saturday. No casualties were reported by Israel or Hezbollah.
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group said one of its fighters was killed in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in some of the worst violence since a full-scale war in 2006 that killed about 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians. Israel reported the deaths of 44 civilians and 121 soldiers in the conflict.
There is a “very real” risk a miscalculation along Lebanon’s southern border could lead to a wider conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, UN officials warned on Saturday.
UN special co-ordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and head of UN peacekeeping forces in the country, Aroldo Lazaro, said they were “deeply concerned” about the recent escalation in the region.
Iran-backed Hezbollah last week launched its largest volley of rockets and drones yet in eight months of cross-border fire with Israel.
“The danger of miscalculation leading to a sudden and wider conflict is very real,” the officials said in a written statement on Saturday.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
