BEIRUT: Hezbollah launched an attack on Tuesday using an explosive-laden drone on the headquarters of the 91st Division of the Israeli army in Illit, northeast of Safed, for the first time reaching a target this deep into Israel since the start of hostilities on the southern Lebanese front between Hezbollah and the Israeli army 87 days ago.
This attack coincided with a funeral Hezbollah held for three of its members who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Monday evening in a house targeted by an Israeli drone in the town of Kafrkela. The funeral of the members — namely Hussein Ahmed Yahya, Mousa Hassan Sheet, and Jihad Mousa Sheet — took place in the same border town. Meanwhile, the funeral of a fourth member, Abdul Jalil Ali Hamza, whose body was later recovered from under the rubble of the house, was held in his hometown, Khodor, in the Bekaa.
The Israeli army had encircled the town of Kafrkela with an artillery barrage and raids, which a Lebanese security source described to Arab News as “aiming to empty the border villages of any remaining civilians” so as to better target Hezbollah fighters and hinder their movement.
HIGHLIGHT
Israeli aircraft raided the area between the border city of Bint Jbeil and the town of Maroun Al-Ras, launching four air-to-surface missiles at the targeted area. The Israeli army also targeted the town of Mays Al-Jabal with an artillery shell that landed between residential neighborhoods.
The Israeli raids on the central sector included the towns of Markaba and Mays Al-Jabal, where a shell fell in the parking lot of the town’s hospital, its flying fragments causing material damage.
In its hostile operations on Tuesday, the Israeli army targeted residential homes in villages facing its positions on the other side of the border. It carried out several raids via drone in the vicinity of cemeteries in the town of Yaroun. It launched artillery shelling in the area between Alma Al-Shaab and Al-Dhaira and in the Ain Al-Zarqa area on the outskirts of Tayr Harfa. Israeli artillery also targeted the heights of Jabal Sadana between Kfarchouba and Shebaa with several shells and struck two houses on the outskirts of the town of Blida.
Israeli aircraft raided the area between the border city of Bint Jbeil and the town of Maroun Al-Ras, launching four air-to-surface missiles at the targeted area. The Israeli army also targeted the town of Mays Al-Jabal with an artillery shell that landed between residential neighborhoods.
In response to events in the south, Hezbollah expanded the range of Israeli sites and settlements it targets by over 10 km.
Israeli media said: “An anti-tank missile was launched from Lebanon toward the Shlomi settlement in the Western Galilee.”
Israeli Channel 12 reported that “several missiles were launched from Lebanon toward Shlomi in the Western Galilee, without causing any casualties.” The channel mentioned that “a house was damaged.”
The Israeli army announced on Monday night that it “struck a series of targets in Lebanon, including military sites where Hezbollah was active.”
It said earlier that “five soldiers were injured as a result of firing from Lebanon.”
In the morning, Hezbollah targeted “a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the Zar’it barracks,” confirming in a statement that “the soldiers were killed and wounded.” It also targeted the Israeli military site of Birkat Risha and the Israeli Al-Marj site.
On Tuesday, Gen. Joseph Aoun, commander of the Lebanese army, met with French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu. They discussed the aid offered by France to the Lebanese army, including the provision of multiple armored vehicles.
Aoun inspected the command of the Fifth Intervention Regiment in the town of Kfardounine, one of the border villages of Bint Jbeil District, on New Year’s Eve.
The Army Orientation Directorate said that Aoun reviewed the tasks carried out in the context of developments at the southern border. He said that “the steadfastness of the members of the regiment and other units deployed in the south in the face of the current challenges is important for the people of the region.”
The army commander then moved to the headquarters of the UNIFIL commander’s reserve unit in Deir Kifa and again met with Lecornu, who inspected his country’s unit within UNIFIL on the occasion of the holidays. The discussions focused on how to “continue UNIFIL’s mission in light of deteriorating conditions and how to protect the Lebanese army and UNIFIL members in their missions.”
Aoun stressed “the importance of cooperation between the army and UNIFIL within the framework of Resolution 1701, especially during the current exceptional circumstances.”
Lecornu confirmed before 700 French soldiers with whom he shared a New Year’s dinner in a tent at the base about 10 km from the border that “this mission could become very dangerous and our path will be strewn with doubts in the coming weeks and days.”
