After the series of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, including the one which left 29 dead in Beirut on Saturday November 23, according to the latest figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the tension did not subside this Sunday.
Air raid sirens sounded in many parts of Israel, reportsAFP. The country was the target of at least 250 projectile shots fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon, according to the Israeli army which initially reported a report of 160 shots. Part of it was intercepted. In a statement, Hezbollah said it had “launched, for the first time, an air attack using a swarm of combat drones on the Ashdod naval base”in southern Israel.
Destroyed tanks
Later in the day, the pro-Iranian movement added that it had fired “a salvo of advanced missiles and a swarm of combat drones” on a “military target” in Tel Aviv and missiles on the nearby Glilot military intelligence base. Hezbollah also claims to have “destroyed” five Merkava tanks “on the eastern outskirts of the town of Bayada” and one in the Deir Mimas area, approximately 2.5 kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanese border. The Lebanese National Information Agency (ANI) reported intense fighting in several southern regions, with “a convoy of 30 Israeli military vehicles retreating” from the Bayada region towards Tayr Harfa, further south, after Hezbollah destroyed their tanks. She also reported a “acceleration of the Israeli ground operation in Khiam”a town near the border, after a night of fighting “difficult”.
Requested by theAFP, the Israeli army has not commented on these statements. According to first aid and hospital organizations, at least eleven people were injured, including a man in his sixties in serious condition. “moderate to severe”. The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, called on Sunday in Beirut for a “immediate ceasefire”.
Retaliation for strikes on Beirut
These large volleys of fire follow at least four Israeli strikes in central Beirut last week, one of which killed Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammed Afif. In a speech on Wednesday, the leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement, Naïm Qassem, declared that the response to the recent strikes on the capital must be “expected in the center of Tel Aviv”.
The Lebanese army, meanwhile, said one soldier was killed on Sunday and 18 others were injured, “ some seriously, following an Israeli attack targeting a Lebanese army center in Amriyeh”in southern Lebanon.
