Israel and Hezbollah in major missile exchange as escalation fears grow
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT — Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel early on Sunday, as Israel’s military said it struck Lebanon with around 100 jets to thwart a larger attack, in one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months of border warfare.
Missiles were visible curling up through the dawn sky, dark vapour trails behind them, as an air raid siren sounded in Israel and a distant blast lit the horizon, while smoke rose over houses in Khiam in southern Lebanon.
On Sunday evening, sirens sounded in Rishon Letsiyon, central Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces said, and added that one projectile had been identified crossing from the southern Gaza Strip and falling in an open area. The armed wing of Hamas said it had fired an “M90” rocket at Tel Aviv.
Any major spillover in the fighting, which began in parallel with the war in Gaza, risks morphing into a regional conflagration drawing in Hezbollah’s backer Iran and Israel’s main ally the United States.
With three deaths confirmed in Lebanon and one in Israel, both sides indicated they were happy to avoid further escalation for now, but warned that there could be more strikes to come.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Iranian-backed group’s barrage, a reprisal for the assassination of senior commander Fuad Shukr last month, had been completed “as planned”.
However, the group would assess the impact of its strikes and “if the result is not enough, then we retain the right to respond another time”, he said.
Israel’s foreign minister said the country did not seek a full-scale war, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: “This is not the end of the story.”
The two sides have exchanged messages that neither wants to escalate further, with the main gist being that the exchange was “done”, two diplomats told Reuters.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the presence of two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East, bolstering the U.S. military presence. Earlier, top U.S. General C.Q. Brown arrived in Israel for talks with military leaders.
Meanwhile in Gaza, the Israeli offensive continued, with air strikes killing at least five Palestinians in Gaza City early on Monday, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
