Israeli armed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah continued to exchange fire overnight from Thursday to Friday, after the further rhetorical escalation of the two protagonists, intensifying the concern that a large-scale war will break out.

While on Israel’s so-called southern front, in the Gaza Strip, the war that broke out on October 7, triggered by the attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli territory, continued in the early hours of the morning with Israeli bombardments in various parts of the besieged and ruined enclave. .

He the war sparked a flare-up of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border, where exchanges of fire between the Israeli armed forces and Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, have escalated in recent weeks.

yesterday thursday Hezbollah claimed responsibility for various attacks, saying in particular that it fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets and shells” in the direction of a camp in northern Israel, in retaliation for an Israeli bombardment that killed a member of its military arm in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army confirmed that it “eliminated” an officer of the movement and that it struck a “surface-to-air missile launch facility” of Hezbollah, a group that arms and finances Iran, the sworn enemy of the Jewish state.

During the night, he also reported intercepting an “air target”. Local media reported that there were Israeli bombardments in the Lebanese South.

In Washington, Israeli National Security Adviser Tchai Hanegbi and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met with the head of US diplomacy Anthony Blinken, at a time when relations between the administrations of President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are experiencing renewed tensions.

During the meeting, Mr. Blinken “reaffirmed the unwavering commitment of the United States to Israel’s security,” according to a press release issued by his spokesman, Matthew Miller.

The US Secretary of State underlined at the same time “the importance of avoiding further escalation in Lebanon” and that there be a “diplomatic solution” that “will allow Israeli and Lebanese families”, the thousands of people who were displaced due to the exchange of fire, “to return to their their homes”.

In an incendiary speech yesterday Wednesday, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, declared that “no location” in Israel will be spared from his movement’s missiles and drones in the event that the Israeli army attacks Lebanese territory.

On Tuesday, the Israeli armed forces announced that “operational plans” to carry out operations in Lebanon had been “approved”, while Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said that in the event of a “total war”, Hezbollah would be “destroyed”.

“New Weapons”

Mr. Nasrallah also threatened Cyprus, stressing that he has “information according to which (…) Israel says it will use airports and bases in Cyprus if Hezbollah attacks its airports”.

“Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is a party to the war,” Hassan Nasrallah said. Cyprus, the member state of the European Union that is closest to the shores of the Middle East – it is about 300 kilometers from Israel and 200 kilometers from Lebanon – maintains good relations with both countries.

These accusations are non-existent, the government of Cyprus countered. “The Republic of Cyprus is in no way involved in the hostilities”, was the reaction of the President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, it is “part of the solution, not the problem”.

Threats by Hezbollah, a movement with enormous influence in Lebanon, intensify the climate of concern.

“I don’t know if this story will end in war or an agreement. I would prefer an agreement,” says Shimon Kamari from Kiryat Shimona (northern Israel.

“Lebanon does not want war, nobody wants war. We are tired, we have the economic crisis and now a war (…) We cannot continue like this”, says Sofinar, a resident of Beirut.

In case of war, Israel will suffer blows “from the land, from the sea and from the air”, explained the leader of Hezbollah, a faction designated as a terrorist organization by the USA and Britain, adding that his movement received “new weapons “, while it has over 100,000 men ready for war.

“It is critical that all parties cease fire,” the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Janine Hennis-Plaschert, said for her part.

Tensions between the Biden-Netanyahu governments

On October 7, Hamas’ military arm launched an unprecedented raid on southern sectors of Israeli territory, killing 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. At the same time, 251 people were kidnapped, of which 116 are still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, but 41 are believed to be dead, according to the army.

In retaliation, Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas, in power in the Palestinian enclave since 2007, and the Israeli armed forces launched wide-scale operations in the Gaza Strip that have so far killed at least 37,431 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry.

In Rafah (south), fighting continues between Israeli army units and Palestinian fighters, as does Israeli shelling.

There were also strikes in a central sector of the Gaza Strip, killing two people, including a doctor, while at the same time, sectors in the northern part of the region are threatened by famine, according to the UN.

“We will not leave Gaza until the hostages are back and before we have eliminated the military capabilities of Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said once again, as Israelis marched in Jerusalem for another night to protest how it was being conducted. the war.

Earlier this week, stressing that Israel was waging an “existential war”, Mr Netanyahu added that his country’s armed forces needed more weapons and ammunition from the US, Israel’s main ally, and lamented the delays in deliveries.

The representative of the National Security Council of the American presidency, John Kirby, described these comments of the Israeli prime minister as “disappointing” and “insulting”. “No other country is doing more to help Israel defend itself against the threat of Hamas,” he assured.