Hezbollah fighters on Tuesday morning announced that they have bombed the Israeli military site of Metulla off the eastern sector of southern Lebanon.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that an anti-tank missile was fired near Metulla, without causing any casualties, and that the Israeli army responded by firing missiles at Hezbollah positions in return.
Israeli army spokesperson Jonathan Conricus added Tuesday that Hezbollah had fired “more than 1,000 different types of ammunition, missiles, shells, drones, mortar shells, and others towards Israel” since October 8th.
“Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war that could have devastating consequences for the state of Lebanon and its people,” he warned.
Conricus expressed Israel’s desire to reach a diplomatic solution to eliminate the threat posed by Hezbollah to Israeli forces and civilians along the northern border.
However, he indicated that the Israeli army “will continue to make the necessary preparations to remove the threat posed by Hezbollah on our borders through the means available to us as an army.”
The scope of the ongoing attacks, “Violate Israeli sovereignty, today we are closer to war than ever before,” Conricus warned.
War is brewing
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Tuesday that if it was not possible to “restore security in the region” diplomatically, they would not hesitate to act.
The occupation army forces carried out artillery shelling on the outskirts of the towns of Khiam and Kafr Kila on Tuesday, as well as the outskirts of the town of Hula in southern Lebanon.
Israel’s forces targeted the outskirts of the towns of Mays al-Jabal and Blida in southern Lebanon with artillery shells, while explosions were heard near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Shmona.
US news site Axios reported that Washington is seeking to reach a diplomatic solution between Lebanon and Israel, especially since the administration of President Joe Biden “feels deeply concerned that the escalating border skirmishes could lead to an all-out war that would be worse than the conflict in Gaza.”
Axios noted that Biden’s senior advisor, Amos Hockstein, and other American officials working to reach a diplomatic solution to little success.
are working on trying to reach such a diplomatic solution, but little progress has been made so far.
The website reported Israeli officials as saying that they had informed Washington of their intention to push Hezbollah six miles from the border as part of an agreement to end tension with Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, informed US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, that Israel is ready to give diplomacy a chance provided that progress occurs within weeks, according to the Axios website.
