Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel in ‘initial response’ to killing of top leader from allied Hamas
BEIRUT — Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel on Saturday, warning that the barrage was its initial response to the targeted killing, presumably by Israel, of a top Hamas leader in Lebanon’s capital earlier this week.
The rocket attack came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his group must retaliate for the killing of Saleh Arouri, the deputy political leader of the militia’s ally Hamas, in a Hezbollah stronghold south of Beirut.
Hezbollah said it launched 62 rockets toward an Israeli air surveillance base on Mount Meron and that it scored direct hits. It said rockets also struck two army posts near the border.
The Israeli military said about 40 rockets were fired toward Meron and that a base was targeted, but made no mention of the base being hit. It said it struck the Hezbollah cell that fired the rockets.
Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon hit the outskirts of Kouthariyeh al-Siyad village, about 25 miles from the border, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said, adding that there were casualties. Such strikes deeper inside Lebanon have been rare since the border fighting started nearly three months ago. NNA also said Israeli forces shelled border areas including the town of Khiam. Israel’s army had no immediate comment.
Separately, the armed wing of the Islamic Group in Lebanon, the country’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and a close ally of Hamas, said it fired two volleys of rockets toward the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday night. Two of the group’s members were killed in the strike that killed Arouri.
The cross-border escalation came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was kicking off an urgent Middle East diplomatic tour, his fourth to the region since the Israel-Hamas war erupted three months ago. The war was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel in which terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages.
“It is imperative to avoid a regional escalation in the Middle East. It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said during a visit to Beirut.
In recent weeks, Israel has been scaling back its military assault in northern Gaza and pressing its heavy offensive in the territory’s south, vowing to crush Hamas.
On Saturday, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said 122 Palestinians had been killed over the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the war to 22,722. The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The latest Israeli-dropped leaflets urged Palestinians in some areas near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah to evacuate, citing “dangerous fighting.”
Israel has held Hamas responsible for civilian casualties, saying the group has embedded itself within Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. The United States has urged Israel to do more to prevent harm to civilians, even as it keeps sending weapons and munitions while shielding its close ally against international censure.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Jobain reported from Rafah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Istanbul and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.