Lebanon’s military said it found 20 rocket launchers near its border with Israel on Monday where Iran-backed Hezbollah has repeatedly exchanged fire with Israeli forces in recent days – sparking fears that the war could spread to new fronts.
Four of the rocket launchers were loaded with missiles and ready to fire when they were found in the Lebanese border towns of Qalila and Al-Sha’iyat, the military said. saidadding that specialized units have acted quickly to dismantle it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, also warned the terror group on Monday to stay away from the escalating war with Hamas or pay the price.
The discovery of the missile launcher comes as Israel, which is preparing for an imminent ground offensive in southern Gaza to root out Hamas terrorists, has begun evacuating residents of dozens of villages near its northern border with Lebanon.
“Don’t test us in the north,” Netanyahu said Monday as he threatened that Hezbollah and their Iranian backers would pay a high price if they were involved in a war.
“Don’t make the mistakes of the past. Today, the price you will pay will be much heavier,” he added, referring to Israel’s fierce month-long war with Hezbollah in 2006.
A shell from an Israeli cannon exploded on top of a house in al-Bustan, a village on the Lebanese border with Israel on Sunday.AP
Since the October 7 attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 Israelis, tensions have been rising along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Last week’s fighting was the deadliest in Lebanon’s border region since the 2006 war.
Hezbollah fighters have already fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli army positions and the Israeli army has responded by shelling areas on the Lebanese side of the border.
Israel considers the Iranian-backed Shiite militant group the most serious immediate threat, estimating that Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
Hezbollah’s military media outlet said on Monday it had also begun shooting and destroying surveillance cameras at five Israeli army posts along the border, including one outside the Israeli town of Metula.
Israeli soldiers patrol in armored personnel carriers in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon.AFP via Getty Images
The group appears to want to prevent the Israeli army from monitoring movements on the Lebanese border after days of fighting that left at least seven people dead, including four Hezbollah fighters.
Meanwhile, in the biggest sign yet that the war could spill over into bloody new fronts, Israel ordered the evacuation of 28 villages in a 1.2-mile-deep zone near the Lebanese border after an exchange of rocket fire on Sunday that wounded at least four people. citizen.
The civilians will be housed in “state-funded boarding houses” in towns in central Israel, the army said.
Israel’s military on Monday accused Iran of ordering the attack by Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah carried out several firing attacks to divert attention from our war effort in the south (Gaza), under the direction of Iran and with (Iran’s) support,” said chief military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
Israeli soldiers patrol a road near the border between Israel and Lebanon on Monday. AP
“We have increased our forces on the northern border, and are responding aggressively to any activity against us.
“If Hezbollah dares to test us, the reaction will be deadly,” he said, adding: “The United States gives us full support.”
Hezbollah previously said the increase in attacks was a warning and did not mean the group had decided to go to war.
But Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Sunday that the group was prepared for all possibilities, adding, “we don’t want to reveal what the next step is.”
He said Hezbollah’s next move “is tied to what happens in Gaza.”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
