The US helped track the militant group’s drone barrage but was not involved in shooting them down or carrying out the strikes, an official says
▲ A combination of images captured from a position in northern Israel show a UAV Hezbollah aircraft when it was intercepted and destroyed by the Israeli air force.Afp Photo
Afp, Reuters, Ap, Europa Press and The Independent
The newspaper La Jornada
Monday, August 26, 2024, p. 28
Beirut. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned yesterday that This is not the endafter Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah exchanged fire in southern Lebanon, in an escalation of the Middle East conflict, while the militia’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, denied the reports misleading claims from Tel Aviv, which claimed to have destroyed thousands of rocket launchersand announced that the objective of the operation was achieved, and morehitting a military intelligence base near the Israeli capital.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Nayib Mikati called for immediate compliance with United Nations resolutions, while a senior US official quoted by AFP said that Washington helped track the barrage of rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah against Israeli territory.
Both Israel and Hezbollah said they targeted only military targets. The Israeli army reported that one soldier was killed and two wounded. On the other side, two Hezbollah fighters and one from another allied group were killed.
A Lebanese security source said at least 40 Israeli strikes hit several southern towns.
Netanyahu said his army eliminated terrorists in Lebanon Thousands of rockets aimed at northern Israel and shot down drones heading to the center of the countryin an operation early yesterday that he presented as preemptive strike.
Nasrallah denied these affirmations and assured that only a few dozen rocket launchers were destroyed. He added that the main target of the organisation was the Glilot base, the main headquarters of Israeli military intelligence.
I repeat: this is not the end of the storythe Israeli prime minister said, addressing Hezbollah leader and Iranian ruler Ali Khamenei.
He added that They should know that this is another step on the road to changing the situation along the northern border..
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told CBS that the actions of his forces They avoided an escalation and a bigger warbut admitted that the threat remains.
Nasrallah said: We will evaluate the impact of the operation and, if the results are not sufficient, we will respond at another time..
An Israeli army spokesman told AFP that the Glilot base, which according to Israeli media also houses the headquarters of the Mossad (the foreign intelligence agency), was not reached.
Hezbollah warned that this was the response initial the killing of Fuad Shukr, one of its founders, in an Israeli bombing in Beirut last month. Nasrallah said there would be more attacks because responses from Iran and Yemen are still lacking.
Nasrallah said the offensive was launched in two phases: first, 340 rockets were fired Katyusha”against 11 military targets in northern Israel and the Syrian Golan Heights, occupied by Tel Aviv.
It then launched drones from southern Lebanon and also, for the first time, from the Bekaa Valley on the border with Syria, hitting military targets at depth.
He explained that Hezbollah targeted the Israeli air force base in Ein Shemer.
Maximum alert continues
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani stressed that initial assessments revealed very little damage in Israel, but stressed that the army remained on high alert. He confirmed that 100 fighter jets were involved in the strikes.
The United States helped track the rockets that Hezbollah launched at Israel, but was not involved in shooting them down or in the attacks, a US defense official was quoted as saying by AFP.
Several airlines suspended flights to and from Beirut and Tel Aviv. By midday, the heated exchanges had ended, but the situation remains tense.
Mikati, for his part, called for immediate compliance with the UN resolutions after holding an emergency meeting yesterday with his ministers. The first thing is to stop Israel’s aggression and then implement the resolutions.the prime minister told the newspaper Al Joumhouria.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the commander of the blue helmets In Lebanon, Aroldo Lazaro, urged both Israel and Hezbollah to ceasefire. The only sustainable way forward is a return to a cessation of hostilities, followed by the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.considered.