BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles at Israel on Sunday in response to a deadly Israeli attack in Beirut as negotiators continued efforts to reach a ceasefire. , seven people were injured in the heaviest barrage of gunfire by insurgents in days. Stop all-out war.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army announced that one soldier was killed and 18 others injured in an Israeli attack on a Lebanese military center on the southwest coast road between Tire and Nakoura. The Israeli military expressed regret and said the attack took place in a combat zone with Hezbollah, adding that the operation was aimed only at the militant group. A strike was under consideration.
Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even though the Lebanese army has largely remained on the sidelines.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the airstrike as an attack on U.S.-led ceasefire efforts, calling it “a direct and bloody message of rejection of all efforts and continued contacts” to end the war. .
Hezbollah fires rocket after Beirut attack
After the war broke out with Hamas’ attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles, and drones at Israel. Hezbollah claims the attack is part of solidarity between Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.
Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes against Hezbollah, and in September Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several top commanders. The low-level conflict erupted into full-scale war.
The Israeli military said some of the projectiles launched Sunday were intercepted.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue team rescued seven people, including a 60-year-old man in critical condition after a rocket attack in northern Israel and a 23-year-old man who sustained minor injuries in an explosion in the central city of Petah Tikva. He announced that he had been treated. A 70-year-old woman was injured from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there.
In Haifa, a rocket hit a house and police said it was at risk of collapsing. It is unclear whether the injuries or damage were caused by the rocket or the interceptor.
Hours later, sirens rang out again across central and northern Israel.
An unwarned Israeli airstrike hit central Beirut on Saturday, killing at least 29 people and injuring 67 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Smoke rose again over Beirut on Sunday with new strikes. The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah’s headquarters in the southern suburbs of Dahiya, where the militants have a strong presence.
The Israeli attack has killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting resulted in the evacuation of approximately 1.2 million people, a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in shelling in northern Israel and in fighting that followed Israel’s ground invasion in early October. Approximately 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from the north of the country.
EU envoy calls for pressure for ceasefire
The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein visited the region last week.
The European Union’s top diplomat on Sunday called for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying the deal “awaits final agreement from the Israeli government.”
Josep Borrell spoke after a meeting between Mikati and Hezbollah ally Navi Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament who mediates with the group.
Borrell said the EU was ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to support the Lebanese army in deploying additional troops to the south.
The new agreement paves the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, below the Litani River, in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution that ended a month-long war in 2006. Lebanese troops will patrol the area in the presence of UN peacekeepers.
The Lebanese army reflects the country’s religious diversity and is respected as a state institution, but it lacks the military force to impose its will on Hezbollah or resist Israeli aggression.
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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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For more of AP’s war coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
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