Click to see full-size image. By Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib.
On December 21, Hezbollah attacked several Israeli settlements and sites of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) along the border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah announced attacks against the settlements of Dovev, Avivim, Metulla and Ramot Naftali. It also said its fighters targeted several gatherings of the IDF in the occupied Shebaa Farms with artillery, rockets and three suicide drones. Two more attacks targeted al-Jardah military sites and Ramim barracks, according to the group.
Hebrew media said that the attack on Dovev wounded two people, and the attack on Avivim caused material losses. Meanwhile, the IDF confirmed that it had identified a number of “aerial targets” that entered Israeli airspace from southern Lebanon. It said that an interceptor missile was fired during the incident, and “the event is over,” without elaborating.
The attacks were carried out to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and in response to recent Israeli strikes on Lebanon, which claimed the life of an elderly woman, Hezbollah said.
In response to the attacks, the IDF carried out a series of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. It said targets hit by fighter jets included rocket launch sites, military buildings, and other infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah. Another site belonging to the group was targeted by aircraft, tanks, and artillery.
Additionally, the IDF said that a number of areas along the border were shelled with artillery to prevent Hezbollah fighters from carrying out attacks.
Hezbollah mourned one of its fighters after the Israeli strikes, sayin in a statement that he was killed “on the road to Jerusalem.”
The clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border first broke out after the start of the war in Gaza, with Hezbollah and its allies carrying out attacks in support of the Strip.
As of December 21, the clashes on the border have resulted in four civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of eight IDF soldiers. On the Lebanese side, more than 120 have been killed. The toll includes 110 Hezbollah members, ten of whom were killed in Syria, 16 Palestinian fighters, at least 17 civilians and three journalists.
