Hezbollah says it fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for deadly air strike in south Lebanon
\n Gaza
\nIsrael and Hezbollah traded fresh cross-border fire, as fears of a regional conflict grew after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive and the Iran-backed fighters vowed to blanket their foe in rockets.
\nHezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel Thursday in retaliation for a deadly air strike in south Lebanon that Israel said killed one of the group\u2019s operatives. Hezbollah also claimed several other attacks on Israeli troops and positions over the course of the day.
\nThe Israeli military said its jets had struck two weapons storage facilities and several other sites belonging to the group, and that it had fired artillery \u201cto remove threats in multiple areas in southern Lebanon\u201d.
\nJust before midnight, the army said it had \u201csuccessfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon\u201d.
\nAnd early Friday, Lebanese media reported fresh Israeli strikes in the country\u2019s south.
\nExperts are divided on the prospect of a wider war, almost nine months into Israel\u2019s campaign to eradicate Hezbollah\u2019s ally Hamas, the Palestinian freedom fighting group in the Gaza Strip.
\nHezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged near-daily fire since October 7 and the bellicose talk has escalated along with the strikes.
\nIsrael\u2019s main military backer the United States has sought to discourage any expansion of hostilities along the border.
\nIn a meeting with visiting Israeli officials in Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored \u201cthe importance of avoiding further escalation in Lebanon and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes\u201d, according to a statement.
\nIn a televised address on Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had warned \u201cno place\u201d in Israel would \u201cbe spared our rockets\u201d if a wider war began.
\nHe also threatened nearby Cyprus if it opened its airports or bases to Israel \u201cto target Lebanon\u201d.
\nEuropean Union member Cyprus houses two British bases, including an airbase, but they are in sovereign British territory and not controlled by the Cypriot government.
\nOn Thursday, Cyprus government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis dismissed as \u201ctotally groundless\u201d any suggestion of possible involvement in a conflict related to Lebanon.
\nWarplanes from the British airbase in Cyprus have, along with US forces, attacked Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Huthi rebels who have for months been targeting Red Sea shipping.
\nOn Thursday the US military said it had destroyed several Huthi drones, a day after its forces struck two rebel sites in Yemen.
\nUS envoy Amos Hochstein on a trip to the region called for \u201curgent\u201d de-escalation, while the UN special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said there was \u201cno inevitability to conflict\u201d as she visited UN peacekeepers in the country\u2019s south.
\nThe cross-border violence has killed at least 479 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also 93 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
\nWeary residents of Beirut on Thursday downplayed the chances of war in Lebanon, which political deadlock has left essentially leaderless while a five-year economic meltdown continues.
\nIn Israel, some citizens called for action against Hezbollah.
\nThe violence has already displaced tens of thousands of people, mostly in Lebanon.
\nIn southern Gaza, a United Nations mission found hundreds of thousands of displaced people \u201csuffer from poor access to shelter, health, food, water and sanitation\u201d, a UN report said late Wednesday.
\nIn central Gaza, residents said they had turned to cooking oil to power their cars.
\nUS President Joe Biden has called for the implementation of a ceasefire plan he outlined last month.
\nHochstein and Blinken say a deal to curb fighting in Gaza would by extension help resolve the Hezbollah-Israel violence.
\nBut Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s far-right coalition partners strongly oppose a Gaza ceasefire.
\nNetanyahu is also facing regular street protests demanding a deal to free the hostages and accusing him of prolonging the war.
\n\u201cWe will not leave the Gaza Strip until all of the hostages return,\u201d Netanyahu said Thursday to relatives of hostages killed in the territory.
\n\u201cWe do not have the option of giving up.\u201d
\nIn a separate statement, he called the war a battle for Israel\u2019s existence.
\nBut the viability of the war\u2019s stated goal of eradicating Hamas has been questioned in some corners.
\nIsraeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told Israel\u2019s Channel 13 on Wednesday: \u201cTo say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people\u2019s eyes.
\nIf we don\u2019t provide an alternative, in the end, we will have Hamas.\u201d
\nBlinken last month said Washington had not seen an Israeli post-war plan, adding \u201cthe trajectory Israel is on\u201d would still leave thousands of Hamas freedom fighters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hezbollah says it fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for deadly air strike in south Lebanon Gaza Israel and Hezbollah traded fresh cross-border fire, as fears of a regional conflict grew after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive and the Iran-backed fighters vowed to blanket their foe in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-413762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n