The Lebanese Hezbollah and the Israeli army exchanged fire once again yesterday Saturday in sectors on the border of the two states, while a Palestinian movement spoke of a death in its ranks in an Israeli bombardment in this area.

Since the day after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7th, exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been practically daily.

Attacks by the Lebanese faction escalated even more after the death on Tuesday of one of the most important figures in its military arm, Talib Sami Abdullah, in an Israeli bombardment in Juayyah, in the south. The Israeli armed forces confirmed that they proceeded to exterminate Abdullah, who according to them had “planned and committed attacks” against Israel.

Yesterday, Hezbollah announced that it targeted a base in Meron with “guided missiles” and launched one-way drones against another base, “in retaliation for the killing committed by the enemy in Juayyah.”

The Israeli armed forces confirmed that “two rockets” were launched against a military installation in Meron, where neither casualties nor damage were reported.

Aerial vehicles were also sent from Lebanon into Israeli territory and landed in the Goren area, they added, clarifying that they caused a fire.

A fighter jet “hit a Hezbollah terrorist” and artillery opened fire to “eliminate a threat” in the Aitaroun region of southern Lebanon, they also said, without giving further details.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement’s military wing said one of its fighters was killed in an Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon.

At the same time yesterday, UN officials expressed “deep concern” due to the ongoing escalation.

“The risk of a miscalculation that would lead to a sudden and wider armed conflict is real,” said UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Janine Hennis-Plaschert and Aroldo Latharo, head of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (FINUL in French, UNIFIL in English).

In a joint statement released to the public, the Dutch diplomat and the Spanish military called on “the parties to cease fire and start working towards a political and diplomatic solution.”

Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed faction, is a powerful armed movement and key political party in Lebanon.

In more than eight months of hostilities on the border, at least 471 people have died on Lebanese soil, at least 91 civilians and some 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to an AFP count. On the other hand, at least 15 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to official figures.

On both sides of the border, tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes due to the incessant fighting.