Six pro-Iranian Hezbollah fighters were killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source told AFP, as fears of a regional conflagration intensify.
According to a security source, who requested anonymity, five Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Mayfadoun, in southern Lebanon. A sixth was killed in another strike on Adaïsé, another village in southern Lebanon, the source said. The Lebanese Health Ministry also reported six deaths in the strikes.
The Shiite party, which has been exchanging daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army for nearly 10 months in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, confirmed the death of four of its fighters.
For its part, the Israeli army announced that it had “struck a Hezbollah military structure in the Nabatieh region”, where Mayfadoun is located, “used by several terrorists” who, according to it, were preparing attacks against Israel.
The strike comes as the international community races against time to prevent a military escalation between Iran and its allies and Israel. Tehran and its allies have vowed to retaliate for the assassinations of the Hamas leader and the Hezbollah military chief last week, which were blamed on Israel.
During the day, Israeli aircraft broke the sound barrier at low altitude over Beirut. These overflights and the explosions that sowed panic in the Lebanese capital occurred as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was about to begin a speech.
“Breaking” this cycle of violence
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that “escalation is in no one's interest. It can only lead to more conflict, violence and insecurity. It is therefore crucial that we break this cycle by achieving a ceasefire in Gaza.”
He also considered it “urgent that all parties make the right choices in the hours and days ahead.” A ceasefire in the war-torn Palestinian territory “will unlock the possibility of a lasting return to calm, not only in Gaza, but also in other regions where the conflict could spread,” the American Secretary of State argued.
Since the start of the Gaza war, the powerful Hezbollah has opened a “support front” for the Palestinian Hamas in southern Lebanon, exchanging daily fire with Israel. Cross-border violence has left at least 555 dead, including 361 Hezbollah fighters but also 116 civilians, in Lebanon since October, according to a count by AFP. In Israel and the occupied Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 25 civilians have been killed, according to the authorities.
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