Israel fires on Hezbollah cell
Saudi Arabia warns: Leave Lebanon immediately
October 18, 2023, 10:04 p.m
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Israel is evacuating areas on its northern border following war threats from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia. After renewed fighting and rocket fire, Saudi Arabia is calling on its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately.
There have been renewed clashes in the border area between Israel and Lebanon. The Israeli army said it had “eliminated a terrorist cell” in the neighboring country after Lebanon fired anti-tank missiles at villages in northern Israel. Nine projectiles had therefore flown over Lebanese territory towards Israel and triggered a rocket alarm in northern Israel.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it killed four attackers from Lebanon who tried to cross the border into Israel. Since the major attack by the Palestinian organization Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, there have been repeated attacks in the Israeli-Lebanese border area.
Around 20 people died on the Lebanese side, mostly fighters, but also two civilians and a journalist from the Reuters news agency. There have been three deaths on the Israeli side so far. After Hamas’ major attack on Israel, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia declared its “solidarity” with the Palestinian organization. Internationally, there are fears that the war between Israel and Hamas will spread to other countries in the region. After a call for violence by Hezbollah, hundreds of people demonstrated in front of the US Embassy in Beirut, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”. The Lebanese army intervened with tear gas and water cannons.
The Israeli army spokesman warned the Hezbollah militia on Tuesday: “We are on alert and vigilant in the north. If Hezbollah makes a serious mistake, we will respond with great strength.” Because of the increasingly threatening situation, Israel has begun evacuating 28 towns in the north.
Saudi foreign minister meets Iranian counterpart
Saudi Arabia is also worried about the situation. The kingdom called on its citizens in Lebanon in the afternoon to leave the country “immediately”. If they do not leave the country, they must be extremely careful and stay away from crowds of people such as demonstrations, said the Saudi Arabian embassy in Beirut. Saudi Arabia is a major opponent of Iran, which in turn supports Hezbollah.
On the sidelines of an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart Hussein Amirabdollahian spoke about the military escalation in the Gaza Strip.
At the meeting in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Bin Farhan said that the kingdom continued to strive to de-escalate the conflict. Diplomatic circles previously said that Saudi Arabia had stopped talks about a possible normalization of relations with Israel. After years of massive tension between regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced in March that they would resume diplomatic relations.