Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promised a response on Saturday, August 7 “Appropriate and proportionate” To “Any Israeli air strike on Lebanon”, after a feverish outbreak this week between the two enemies on the border.
Israel on Thursday carried out its first airstrikes on Lebanon since 2014 after the unclaimed firing of three rockets from Lebanon into its territory. Hezbollah responded the next day, launching more than ten rockets at the Jewish state, which responded with artillery fire.
“Our response was linked to the Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, a first in fifteen years”Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on the anniversary of the deadly 33-day war that pitted the powerful Shiite movement against Israel in 2006.
In 2014, Israeli strikes targeted an area near the Syrian border.
“We wish to tell the enemy (…) that any Israeli air force strike on Lebanon will inevitably be followed by a response, but in an appropriate and proportionate manner, as we wish (…) protect the country ”said Hassan Nasrallah.
“Very dangerous development”
Israel’s airstrikes, he said, are a “Very dangerous development”. “We do not want to head for a war, but we are prepared for”, he added.
Israeli officials also reiterated on Friday they did not want an escalation. “In view of a real war”, saying however to be prepared.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) warned on Friday against “A very dangerous situation” and called for a ceasefire ” immediate “. The United States has also urged the Lebanese government to “Prevent quickly” Hezbollah activists – seen by Washington as an organization “Terrorist” – to fire rockets at Israel.
The Lebanese government has been managing day-to-day business since its resignation in the wake of the explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.
Heavyweight in Lebanese political life supported by Iran, Hezbollah is the only Lebanese faction not to have surrendered after the civil war (1975-1990).
Some 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed in the 2006 war. Since then, both sides have remained at war but have avoided any conflagration.
The exchange of fire on the Lebanese-Israeli border coincided with an upsurge in tensions between the Jewish state and Iran.