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HomeTop NewsIsrael and Hezbollah Exchange Strikes Amid Fears of Escalation

Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Strikes Amid Fears of Escalation

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The Israeli military said early Wednesday that it had struck weapons storage facilities used by Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon for the second time this week, as diplomats push for a cease-fire in Gaza in the hopes of averting a wider regional conflagration.

The overnight airstrikes, in an area close to the Syrian border, killed at least one person and wounded 20 others, including women and children, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a statement.

The sites of the most recent Israeli strikes, in a range of about 40 to 60 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border in the Bekaa Valley, are deeper inside Lebanon than many of the near-daily attacks the two countries have exchanged since the war in Gaza began. Hezbollah, like other groups in the region backed by Iran, has been attacking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, leading to the cross-border fire from both countries.

Damage to a greenhouse in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon on Tuesday.Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Hezbollah said in a statement on Wednesday that it had targeted an Israeli military base in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in response to the overnight strikes. Israel’s military said that two houses had been damaged in the village of Katzrin and that at least one person had been injured when dozens of projectiles crossed into the area from Lebanon.

The military said in a statement that it had detected secondary explosions after its strikes on Wednesday, which it said indicated that there were large amounts of weapons at the sites. At least three areas were targeted, including the town of Nabi Chit, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency. There was no immediate comment from Lebanese officials on exactly what was hit.

On Monday, the Israeli military also said it had targeted a number of Hezbollah’s weapons storage facilities in the Bekaa Valley. Lebanon’s health ministry said those strikes injured nearly a dozen people, including two children.

Tensions have escalated sharply in the region in recent weeks since the killings of Fuad Shukr, a senior commander in Hezbollah, and Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of Hamas, which is also allied with Iran. Israel has claimed responsibility for Mr. Shukr’s death and is widely believed to be responsible for Mr. Haniyeh’s. Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to retaliate more forcefully than before against Israel.

Diplomats are hoping that reaching a cease-fire deal in Gaza will keep the conflict from escalating in the wider region. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken toured the region this week to push for a cease-fire in Gaza, but there appeared to be no breakthroughs in talks. Officials familiar with the latest U.S.-backed proposal said it left major disagreements between Hamas and Israel unresolved.

On Tuesday, a senior Iranian military official, Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, the spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, suggested that an attack on Israel might have been placed on hold.



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