LIVE – Middle East: Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli naval base near Haifa

Lebanese Hezbollah announces that it has targeted an Israeli naval base near Haifa, the day after a similar attack which killed at least four Israeli soldiers on a military base in the same region. “We remain vigilant and prepared to defend our country,” asserts in its press release the pro-Iranian movement, now in open war with Israel which assassinated its powerful leader Hassan Nasrallah two weeks ago.

The head of Iranian diplomacy, Abbas Araghchi, met on Monday in Oman with a senior official of the Houthi rebels in Yemen, supported by Tehran, his ministry said. The ministry released photos of the Houthis’ top negotiator, Mohammed Abdelsalam, speaking with Abbas Araghchi, who increased visits to the region after Israel vowed to retaliate for Iran’s missile attack on its territory on October 1st.

The attacks against the United Nations Interim Force deployed in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) are “completely unacceptable”, declared Monday in Luxembourg the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. “The 27 member states have agreed to ask Israel to stop its attacks against UNIFIL (…) It is completely unacceptable to attack UN troops,” he declared shortly. before the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Hezbollah said its fighters fired shells early Monday at Israeli troops attempting an “infiltration” in southern Lebanon, also targeting Israeli soldiers in another sector of the border between the two countries.

“When an enemy infantry force attempted to infiltrate Lebanese territory” near the border village of Markaba, Hezbollah fighters targeted the force “with artillery shells,” a statement said of the Lebanese movement, adding that fighters had targeted Israeli soldiers elsewhere with rockets, including in the Labbouneh region in the west.

Welcome to this live dedicated to the situation in the Middle East.

This Monday, Lebanese Hezbollah threatened Israel with further attacks if its offensive in Lebanon continues, after a drone strike targeting a military position south of Haifa killed four Israeli soldiers and injured more than 60 people. It was the deadliest strike in Israel since the Lebanese armed Shiite movement and Israel entered into open war on September 23.

In a statement, Hezbollah, supported by Iran and ally of Palestinian Hamas, “promises the enemy” that the attack “south of Haifa is only a foretaste of what awaits it” “he decides to continue his attacks against our people.”