Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing dozens of rockets against Israel’s Ramat David Airbase, east of Haifa, on early Sunday. The attack was in retaliation for a series of Israeli airstrikes that hit southern Lebanon over the weekend.
Northern Israel is filled with the wail of sirens as over 100 projectiles have been fired across the border from Lebanon; Israeli military reports that barrage caused school closures and huge disruption in northern parts of Israel, including Israel’s third-largest city of Haifa.
In the affected areas, school activities remain suspended until Monday evening; hundreds and thousands of students are left out of their classrooms. “In Haifa, the schools are closed and a lot of offices remain empty,” says Patrice Wolff, a local resident.
The IDF responded with a series of air strikes on more than 180 sites in southern Lebanon, aiming at Hezbollah’s positions and rocket-launching facilities. This marks the most intense clash between Hezbollah and Israel since the conflict began almost a year ago, triggered by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
This isn’t going to make either of us safer, she said. That is the view of the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, as expressed in a statement today about the violence in the region. “The current escalation is a turning point in the case of Lebanon,” she warned, “with an imminent catastrophe threatening the entire region.”.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah vowed to continue its retaliatory strikes as long as Israel keeps up the fight in Gaza. While both sides claim they are not seeking full-scale conflict, the continued violence there is displacing tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border, fueling tensions that have reached a precarious point.
The northern towns of Israel would have to be defended anew if there was no escape from Hezbollah.
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