This morning, a series of explosions were recorded in the airspace of the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, caused by Israeli interceptor missiles. This occurred after three missiles were fired from Lebanon at the Metulla area.
Israeli radio reported hearing explosions in the Metulla area on the border with Lebanon, after two air raid sirens were sounded.
The Israeli army claimed to have activated air raid sirens in Metulla, in the Galilee Finger region, on the border with Lebanon, after intercepting three rockets.
Israeli media reported that “the rockets were fired from Arnoun and Yahmar al-Shaqif in southern Lebanon, 6 kilometers from Metulla.”
Haaretz quoted the Israeli military as saying: “The army is unable to determine who fired the rockets at Metulla at this time.”
It added: “The artillery shelling of southern Lebanon is an initial response to the rockets, and we will respond more forcefully.”
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz threatened further action, saying “The law of Metulla is the same as the law of Beirut. The Lebanese government bears responsibility for any fire from its territory. I have instructed the army to respond accordingly.”
In response, “Harat al-Ain” neighborhood in the town of Yohmar al-Shaqif, the outskirts of Arnoun, Kfar Tibnit, and the areas surrounding Markaba, Khiyam, and Houla were subjected to Israeli artillery shelling.
In addition, the enemy army conducted a large-scale combing operation using machine guns from the Hamames Hill, where it is positioned. The outskirts of the towns of Houla, Markaba, and Kfar Kela were subjected to combing operations using heavy machine guns from opposite Israeli army positions, amid warplanes flying over the eastern sector.
Air raid sirens sounded at UNIFIL positions in Deir Siryan and Adshit al-Qusayr.
For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned against renewed military operations on the southern border, as they risk dragging the country into a new war, which would bring calamities to Lebanon and the Lebanese.
Salam called the Minister of National Defense, Major General Michel Menassa, stressing “the need to take all necessary security and military measures, confirming that the state alone has the power to decide war and peace.”
Salam also called the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Representative in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, calling on the United Nations to “redouble international pressure on ‘Israel’ to withdraw completely from the occupied Lebanese territories, as this occupation constitutes a violation of UN Resolution 1701 and the arrangements for the cessation of hostilities approved by the previous government last October, to which Lebanon is committed.”
Source: Al-Manar Eglish Website
