(Jerusalem) A man was killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike on a village near the border with Israel in southern Lebanon, after Beirut accused Israel of “blatant violation” of the ceasefire that came into force on the 27 november.
Posted at 11:27 a.m.
Updated at 11:48 a.m.
“An Israeli enemy drone struck the town of Shebaa, killing one person,” the ministry said, while the National News Agency (ANI) reported that a “shepherd” had been killed in Shebaa “by a missile fired by an enemy drone”.
The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that it had killed a Hezbollah liaison officer with the Syrian army in an airstrike in Damascus.
The air force carried out a strike on the Syrian capital targeting “the representative of Hezbollah to the Syrian army, Salman Nemer Jomaa”, responsible according to the Israeli army for “coordination between Hezbollah agents and the “Syrian army, in particular by supporting arms smuggling between Syria” and the Lebanese Islamist movement.
On Monday, 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health, the deadliest since November 27. Both sides have accused each other of repeated violations of the truce.
On Monday evening, the Israeli army announced that it had struck dozens of Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including “terrorist launch pads and infrastructure.”
Previously, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “serious violation” the firing by the Lebanese pro-Iranian movement towards a disputed area on the borders of Lebanon and the part of the Syrian Golan occupied and annexed by Israel, promising to “react with force”.
PHOTO MAHMOUD ZAYYAT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The rubble of a destroyed building in the village of Khirbet Selm, southern Lebanon, seen from the window of a building, December 3, 2024.
His Defense Minister, Israel Katz, threatened to penetrate “deeper” into Lebanon if the fragile ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah were to be broken.
“If we go to war again, we will act with even greater force and penetrate deeper”, “there will no longer be immunity for the Lebanese State” and Israel will no longer make “distinction [entre le Liban et] Hezbollah,” the minister said on Tuesday during a visit to troops.
Netanyahu thanks Trump for ‘strong’ statement on hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Donald Trump on Tuesday for his “strong statement” on the hostages in Gaza after the American president-elect demanded their release on Monday before taking office.
“I want to thank President Trump for his strong statement yesterday on Hamas’ obligation to release the hostages,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a short video message in English, released by his office.
Donald Trump warned Monday that the “price to pay would be terrible” for Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip if the hostages were not released before he takes office on January 20.
In a statement in Hebrew released by his office, Netanyahu said the statement “clearly shows that there is only one person responsible for this situation: Hamas.”
“President Trump has put his finger on the heart of the problem: Hamas, and not the Israeli government as we regularly hear here,” added Mr. Netanyahu.
He was referring to the repeated attacks from the opposition and some of the families of the hostages who believe that Israel could have concluded an agreement earlier for the release of the hostages, but that the Prime Minister is doing everything to prevent this from happening. not.
On Tuesday, Bassem Naïm, a member of the Hamas political bureau, responded to Mr. Trump that “Netanyahu has sabotaged all attempts” at a ceasefire in Gaza, and that his message “is addressed above all to Netanyahu and to its government.
MM. Trump and Netanyahu “must end their evil game of using negotiations as a cover for their personal, political, ideological interests,” he commented in a statement.
The war was triggered by the surprise attack launched on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
This attack resulted in the death of 1,206 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
Of the 251 people kidnapped in Israeli territory, 97 are still captive in Gaza, 35 of whom were declared dead by the army.
The Israeli military campaign launched in retaliation has left more than 44,500 dead in the Gaza Strip, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.
