Israel carries out retaliatory attacks on Hezbollah

2025-03-22 15:45:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Israel struck targets in Lebanon on March 22 in response to rockets fired at Israel. This is the largest exchange of fire since the ceasefire agreement.

Earlier, rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel. It was the second time since December that there have been attacks from Lebanon, raising concerns about whether a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese group designated a terrorist organization by the United States, will be respected.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he ordered the military to take forceful action against dozens of targets in Lebanon.

"Israel will not allow its citizens or its sovereignty to be endangered," the statement said.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, announced that it had carried out attacks on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and hit dozens of the group's rocket launchers and a command center from where Hezbollah was operating.

Hezbollah had begun firing rockets and drones into Israel when Hamas - the Palestinian group designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union - launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict escalated into full-scale war in September, as Israel carried out massive airstrikes and killed most of the Lebanese group's top leaders.

The fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced nearly 60,000 Israelis. The fighting stopped after the sides reached a ceasefire agreement last December.

According to the agreement, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by the end of January. However, this deadline was extended to February 18, following an agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel.

But since then, Israel has continued to maintain a presence in five locations in Lebanon, along communities in northern Israel, and has carried out dozens of airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah.

Lebanon has asked the United Nations to pressure Israel to completely withdraw from the state.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press on Saturday that the group was not responsible for the attack.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked his country's army to take all necessary measures in the south, but said that the state does not want war to return.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known by its acronym UNIFIL, said it was alarmed by the potential escalation of violence and called on all parties to avoid jeopardizing the progress made, adding that further escalation would have consequences for the entire region./ REL