Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam says his country is at risk of being drawn into a “new war” as dozens of new Israeli air strikes against the Hezbollah armed group have killed at least two people.
Salam issued the warning on Saturday, saying Israel’s “renewed military operations on the southern border” would bring “woes to Lebanon and the Lebanese people”.
At least two people are confirmed killed and eight others injured by Israeli air raids, according to reports from Lebanon’s National News Agency. Three of the victims, including one of those killed, are children, it said, citing the government-run Public Health Emergency Operations Center.
Israeli artillery and air strikes hit southern Lebanon after its military said it intercepted three rockets launched from a Lebanese district about 6km (4 miles) north of their shared border. Israel said it targeted rocket launchers it claimed belong to Hezbollah, which it holds responsible for the launches.
Hezbollah issued a statement denying any involvement in the series of rocket attacks on northern Israel from southern Lebanon.
In its statement, Hezbollah accused Israel of creating a pretext to renew its air attacks and reiterated its commitment to a ceasefire signed in November, which ended a year of war between the two sides.
Quoting two security sources, Israel’s Army Radio reported that the military response in southern Lebanon has not finished.
“There will be additional strikes in the coming hours,” the sources said.
Protracted conflict
Saturday’s reported exchange was the first since Israel on Tuesday abandoned a separate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian group Hamas.
Lebanon has blamed Israel for the protracted conflict after failing to withdraw from all Lebanese territory as stipulated in the ceasefire.
Under the deal, a January deadline was set for an Israeli withdrawal but Israel extended it to February 18. Since then, Israeli soldiers have remained in five locations inside Lebanon and its military has carried out dozens of deadly strikes against supposed Hezbollah targets, often striking civilians.
On Saturday, Salam declared that “all security and military measures must be taken to show that Lebanon decides on matters of war and peace”.
In a separate statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned “attempts” to destabilise his country and reignite violence as he called for action to prevent a further escalation of the conflict.
Israel said the attacks were “in response to the rocket fire at Israel”.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed the Israeli military “to act forcefully against dozens of terror targets in Lebanon”.
Netanyahu said Israel was holding Lebanon’s government responsible for “everything taking place within its territory”.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said there is “a lot of concern that the situation will spiral out of control”.
“What we understand is Lebanese officials are holding talks with the US-led committee monitoring the ceasefire to try to de-escalate tensions,” she said.
Gaza war spillover
The conflict in Lebanon has been the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, rumbling across the border for months before escalating into a blistering Israeli offensive that killed several of Hezbollah’s top leaders and commanders and destroyed much of its arsenal.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a written statement on Saturday that it was “alarmed” by the border violence.
“Any further escalation of this volatile situation could have serious consequences for the region,” it said.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, political analyst Sultan Barakat of Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Doha warned that “as long as the [Israeli] occupation continues, … the resistance will continue.”
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