The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that its aircraft struck four Hezbollah cells in Lebanon early on Monday, fueling fears of the Israel-Hamas war spiraling into a wider regional conflict. This was the latest in a series of exchanges between IDF and Iran-backed Hezbollah across the shared border in the north. Israel is fighting a deadly war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The war broke out after Hamas militants launched a brutal surprise assault in southern Israel and killed more than 1,400 people, including children, teenagers, women and foreign nationals. Both Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon are believed to be Iranian proxies as Tehran provides them funding, training and ammunition. Iran has warned Israel that “the Middle East will go out of control” if it continued its war in Gaza.
10 points on growing Israel-Hezbollah exchanges
- Sharing details of the operational activity in northern Israel, the IDF said a military compound and an observation post were destroyed by its fighter aircraft.
- “Our forces struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon, including a military compound and an observation post. 4 Hezbollah terrorist cells operating on the border with Lebanon were struck,” the IDF said.
- One of the Hezbollah cell struck by IDF was located near the Israeli border town of Mattat, while the other was in the contested Shebaa Farms region.
- IDF said the strikes were carried out swiftly and hit “before they were able to carry out planned launches of anti-tank missiles and rockets on Israel.”
- According to local media reports, Lebanon’s state-run news agency NNA confirmed an Israeli air strike hit a compound near Aitaroun village in southern Lebanon, located some 13 km from the Israeli border town of Mattat.
- The latest development comes hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah not to enter the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
- During a visit to the soldiers deployed near the Lebanon border, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that entering the conflict would be “the mistake of its life” and that there would “devastating” consequences for Lebanon.
- “We will cripple it with unimaginable force,” Netanyahu added.
- The fears of the Israel-Hamas war swelling into a wider conflict are potentially higher along the Israel-Lebanon border. The Israel army has said that it has evacuated border towns on Sunday in view of “more and more attacks from Hezbollah.
- Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden and Israeli PM Netanyahu has agreed to let the humanitarian aid continue to reach Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. Israel has asked Gazans still in the north to flee their homes and move to safer areas south of the Wadi Gaza ahead of “second phase of the war”.