The conflict between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel has been escalated with mutual attacks launched from both sides.
Hezbollah militants launched more than 30 Katyusha rockets into Israeli territory on Monday night, even shooting down a large Israeli combat drone. On Tuesday, they fired multiple anti-tank missiles to Israel, damaging two buildings.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Thursday that they attacked the infrastructure and observation posts of Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Wednesday night. According to the Lebanese state news agency, the IDF's attack caused severe damage to infrastructure, but did not result in any casualties.
The Israeli military launched large-scale airstrikes in southern Lebanon, with the IDF stating that on Wednesday alone, it attacked over 40 Hezbollah targets, including infrastructure such as weapon depots, rocket launch sites, and observation posts.
Artillery units of the IDF also continued shelling southern Lebanon. The IDF claimed that Hezbollah had set up dozens of positions in southern Lebanon to launch attacks into Israel, and that the IDF had responded in an unusual manner.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that half of commanders of the Hezbollah in southern Lebanon had been killed, while the other half remained in hiding. The IDF is considering various options for further action against Hezbollah.
Sources closely associated with Hezbollah stated that this was Israel’s propaganda and not worthy of any response from Hezbollah.
According to Israeli local media, the on-going conflict has evolved into a long-term war of attrition.
At the outbreak of the conflict last year, both sides exchanged artillery fire within a five-kilometer range along the border, considered as a relatively short-term conflict. However, as time went on and the targets of the attacks expanded, along with the rising death toll, panic set in within Lebanon. For a period, many people living in Lebanon’s capital city Beirut left the country.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah towards Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery towards southeastern Lebanon.
On January 2 this year, an Israeli drone struck a building in the southern outskirts of Beirut, resulting in the death of Hamas' second-in-command, Saleh al-Arouri. This attack marked a turning point in the border conflict. Following this incident, Israel extensively employed drones or airstrikes to target multiple Hezbollah objectives deep inside Lebanese territory, with the farthest strike reaching over 150 kilometers from the border. At the same time, Hezbollah also altered its attack strategy, launching more drone strikes against targets in northern Israel.
Israel-Lebanon border conflict escalated to long-term war
