Click to see full-size image. By Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib.
On December 27, Hezbollah announced that it had targeted several gatherings of Israeli troops and equipment in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms.
The Israeli gatherings were targeted with artillery, rockets and suicide drones, the group said in a statement, adding that the gatherings received direct hits. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) later confirmed that three drones launched from southern Lebanon hit Shebaa Farms. No casualties were reported however.
In three other statements, Hezbollah said its fighters targeted a newly-established command center of the IDF at the Naqoura naval site, a tent set by Israeli special forces in the site of al-Dhahira and the site of Hadab al-Bustan.
The group also announced in two more statements that it had fired Burkan heavy rockets at the site of Kharab Maar and nearby howitzer positions of the IDF and targeted the settlement of Kiryat Shmona with a barrage of 30 rockets. Material losses were reported in the settlement, but there were no casualties.
Hezbollah said in its statements that the attacks were carried out to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and in response to recent Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
The group’s Military Media also released video footage of an attack with anti-tank guided missiles that wounded nine Israeli troops on December 26.
The IDF responded to the last wave of cross-border attacks with a series of strikes that hit targets of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese media didn’t report any casualties.
In a related development, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said during a visit to the Northern Command that the military is “at a very high level of readiness.”
“Our first task is to return residents safely, and that will take time. Today we approved a variety of plans for the future, and we need to be ready for an offensive, if necessary,” Halevi said in remarks provided by the IDF. “The IDF and within it the Northern Command are at a very high level of readiness. So far, the campaign here has been managed correctly and meticulously, and this is how it should continue. We will not return the residents without security and a sense of security.”
Tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel were evacuated from their settlements near the border with Lebanon after Hezbollah and its allies began launching attacks against the IDF in response to the Israeli war on Gaza.
As of December 27, the clashes on the border have resulted in four civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of nine IDF soldiers. On the Lebanese side, more than 150 have been killed. The toll includes 120 Hezbollah members, ten of whom were killed in Syria, 16 Palestinian fighters, at least 19 civilians and three journalists.
