Lebonan's militant group Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday. At least seven people were injured in Hezbollah's heaviest barrage against Israel in several days. On the other hand, Israel also responded with heavy strikes in Beirut. The fresh escalation comes when the negotiators are engaged in cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war. Lebanon's military said, "An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army centre killed one soldier and wounded 18 others on the southwestern coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura."
Israel's military expressed regret
Israel's military (IDF) expressed regret and said the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah, adding that its operations are directed solely against the militants. The strike was under review.
40 Lebanese troops killed since the commencement of the war
Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines.
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
Hezbollah fires rockets after strikes on Beirut
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.
Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several top commanders. The Israeli military said some of the projectiles fired Sunday were intercepted.
Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there.
In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing. It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by rockets or interceptors.
Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later. Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
3,700 people killed in Lebanon
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon's population.
90 soldiers killed in Israel
On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.
EU envoy calls for pressure to reach a truce
The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a cease-fire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week.
The European Union's top diplomat called on Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government”.
The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the month-long 2006 war.
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