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full screen Funeral for those killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. Photo: Mohammed Zaatari/AP/TT
The Hamas-allied Shiite militia Hezbollah has fired rockets with heavy warheads at towns in northern Israel – for the first time explicitly targeting civilian targets.
According to Israeli media, there are no reports that any Israelis were injured in the attacks, which targeted the communities of Goren and Shlomi, according to a Hezbollah statement.
Thursday night’s attack is in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes that overnight Wednesday killed at least nine people said to be medics, which Israel says are linked to a militant Islamist group.
Since the war between Israel and terrorist-branded Palestinian Hamas broke out on October 7, fire between Hezbollah and Israel has occurred on a near daily basis. Nine civilians and eleven soldiers have been killed in Israel. In Lebanon, around 50 civilians have been killed, and more than 240 fighting Hezbollah members.
The UN peacekeeping mission on the border with Israel in southern Lebanon, Unifil, says it is of the utmost importance that the escalation ends immediately.
“We call on all sides to lay down their arms and start the process towards a sustainable political and diplomatic solution,” says Unifil.