On June 12, 2024, Hezbollah launched a missile attack on the northern Israeli city of Safed, sending smoke and flames rising.
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A senior U.S. adviser is traveling to Israel to ease growing tensions on the Lebanese border, where a recent hail of missiles has reignited the risk of a wider conflict between the Jewish community and Iran-backed militias.
Over the past week, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has stepped up hostilities and cross-border missile strikes against targets in northern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces and the Hezbollah-aligned Mannar news outlet.
Hezbollah has launched offensives against its neighbors since October, with attacks increasing in recent weeks.
The group is allied with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is also backed by Iran, although Tehran denies direct command of the groups. Hezbollah claims solidarity with the plight of Palestinians during Israel’s war in Gaza.
Border tensions have increased since the deployment of the Israel Defense Forces on June 12 report An Israeli airstrike on the village of Juaiya in southern Lebanon killed senior Hezbollah commander Sami Taleb Abdullah and three other Hezbollah operatives.
The Israel Defense Forces claimed that Taleb Abdullah “planned, advanced and carried out numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians,” but CNBC could not independently confirm this.
Israel has been responding to the ensuing fires, most recently sending fighter jets to attack targets in four locations in southern Lebanon on Sunday. According to the Israel Defense Forces — warns that further war may be underway.
“The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has been escalating its attacks on Israel,” IDF spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said. Said in a video speech on SundayIt is claimed that Lebanese armed groups have launched more than 5,000 rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosive drones at Israel since joining the conflict.
“Hezbollah’s growing aggression is pushing us to the brink of a possible wider escalation, which could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Hagari added. “Israel will take the necessary measures to protect its civilians until No matter what, we will ensure the safe return of Israelis to their homes in northern Israel.”
However, Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim al-Qasim said last week that any Israeli expansion into the Lebanese conflict would cause “destruction, destruction and displacement in the Jewish state,” according to Mannar’s Google Translate report ”.
He warned that Hezbollah had so far used only “a small fraction of its capabilities proportional to the nature of the fighting.”
Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been forced to flee border-facing settlements since last year as they quickly became battlefields.
The latest tit-for-tat retaliation will worry Washington, which has been trying to contain chain-reaction tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
Amos Hochstein, a top foreign policy adviser in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday, an Israeli official told NBC News.
The White House sees the easing of tensions between Lebanon and Israel as interconnected with ceasefire talks in Gaza, as the Biden administration seeks to win support for its peace plan for the enclave.
The intensification of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah will also raise questions for market observers who have seen the war in Gaza ripple through international trade. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, also backed by Iran, claiming solidarity with the Palestinian cause, have launched a series of maritime attacks in the Red Sea, disrupting or impeding transit on a vital trade route and effectively holding the waterway hostage.
On Sunday, the Yemeni group said it targeted three ships in the Red Sea, including a U.S. destroyer, according to Google Translate Latest news from Houthi armed spokesman Yahya al-Sareh — though it’s unclear whether a missile hit.
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