Lebanon on Edge after Deadliest Border Clashes Since 2006

A member of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the southern Lebanese plain of Khiam along the border with the northern Israeli town of Metulla (background) on October, 10 2023. (AFP)
A member of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the southern Lebanese plain of Khiam along the border with the northern Israeli town of Metulla (background) on October, 10 2023. (AFP)
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Lebanon on Edge after Deadliest Border Clashes Since 2006

A member of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the southern Lebanese plain of Khiam along the border with the northern Israeli town of Metulla (background) on October, 10 2023. (AFP)
A member of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the southern Lebanese plain of Khiam along the border with the northern Israeli town of Metulla (background) on October, 10 2023. (AFP)

Many residents of south Lebanon who just days ago were preparing to harvest their olives have instead fled for fear of another ruinous conflict with Israel after the deadliest day of cross-border violence since the 2006 war.

For villagers in southern Lebanon, Monday's clashes stirred memories of the devastating 2006 war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah as the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants, 200 km (120 miles) away to the south, arrived at their doorstep.

On the Israeli side of the frontier, villages appeared deserted on Tuesday - a possible result of residents sheltering indoors rather than evacuating. The Israeli military said it had not issued them with any orders to leave. Some people, however, said they were relocating southward as a temporary precaution.

Israeli tanks were deployed in the far northern border town of Metulla as rain came down near the heavily fortified border.

Six people were killed on Monday - three Hezbollah members, an Israeli officer, and two Palestinian militants who touched off the violence by infiltrating Israel from Lebanon.

"I was here in 2006 - those were terrifying scenes. And the shelling yesterday was very heavy," Charbel Alam, a barber in the border town of Rmeish, said. Hundreds of people had left, mostly families with children or elderly relatives, he said.

"People with kids left because in 2006, there was no bread, no milk, no medicine. Lebanon is already like that now, so imagine what it would be like if things escalate," Alam said, referring to the financial crisis that has impoverished many Lebanese over the last four years.

Nazimiya Damouch, an elderly woman, said children had been taken to shelter in a nearby UN peacekeeper base during Monday's shelling. "I'm not afraid of shelling like this, but you get scared for the kids."

It marked the most serious escalation at the volatile frontier in rugged highlands since the summer war 17 year ago that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Tensions have spiked since Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing 900 people, abducting dozens, and setting off a war in which nearly 700 Palestinians have also been killed.

Monday's violence at the Lebanese-Israeli frontier began when militants from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which is fighting alongside Hamas in Gaza, slipped across the frontier from Lebanon into Israel.

Israeli forces killed two of the militants in the ensuing confrontation, in which the Israeli officer also died, though Islamic Jihad said the Israeli death toll was higher than that published by Israel so far.

The Hezbollah fighters were then killed during retaliatory Israeli shelling. Hezbollah responded by firing on two Israeli army positions, with no casualties reported. Hezbollah called it an initial response, signaling more to come.

Streets were quiet in Lebanese villages and towns near the frontier on Tuesday, with schools shut. A storm put many people in Lebanon on edge as thunder was mistaken for Israeli bombardment.

People were also jittery in Kiryat Shmona, a northern Israeli town near Metulla. "This is not the best feeling in the world," resident Orel Sigon said. "We've experienced rockets here, we've been through a lot, but this time we feel that there will be chaos."

Economic hardship

Hezbollah, founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, has close ties to the Palestinian groups fighting Israel.

Hezbollah has voiced support for the Palestinians, saying its "guns and rockets" are with them. On Sunday, Hezbollah fired at three Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms along the border, declaring it an act of solidarity with the Palestinians, an attack that caused no Israeli casualties.

But the heavily armed, Shiite Hezbollah has so far not opened a major second front against Israel.

Lebanon took years to rebuild from the 2006 war, during which Israeli bombardment pounded Hezbollah-controlled south Lebanon and destroyed wide areas of its stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Mutual threats of destruction have helped ward off a major conflagration since then, while neighboring Syria has served as a theater for the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon can ill-afford another big war with Israel, four years into a financial meltdown that has spread impoverishment and paralyzed state institutions.

In the south, Bassam al-Sweit's house was blown up in the 2006 war, but he said tougher economic times in Lebanon meant he would not be able to do so for a second time.

"The economic situation for people today means, if you want to leave the house, where do you go? If you want to buy a loaf of bread, I mean, some people can't. People can't fill their cars with gasoline if they want to flee," he said.

"Okay, you want to start a war. The least you can do is secure the citizens you have, give them protection or food."



US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says

This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
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US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says

This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)

The United States will keep attacking Yemen's Houthi until they end attacks on shipping, the US defense secretary said on Sunday, as the Iran-aligned militias signaled they could escalate in response to deadly US strikes the day before.

The airstrikes, which killed at least 31 people, are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters the campaign might continue for weeks.

The Houthi political bureau described the attacks as a "war crime" and said Houthi forces were ready to "meet escalation with escalation", while Moscow urged Washington to cease the strikes.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News: "The minute the Houthis say we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting."

"This is about stopping the shooting at assets ... in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long," he said. "They better back off."

The Houthis, who have taken control of several regions of Yemen over the past decade, said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea if Israel did not lift a block on aid entering Gaza.

They had launched scores of attacks on shipping after Israel's war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza's Palestinians.

Trump also told Iran, the Houthis' main backer, to stop supporting the militias immediately. He said if Iran threatened the United States, "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it!"

IRAN WARNS US NOT TO ESCALATE

In response, Hossein Salami, the top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said the Houthis took their own decisions.

"We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they carry out their threats," he told state media.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News' "Face the Nation" program: "There's no way the ... Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran. And so this was a message to Iran: don't keep supporting them, because then you will also be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Rubio to urge an "immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue", Moscow said.

Trump has been pressing Russia to sign a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine, which Kyiv accepted last week, but Moscow has said needs to be reworked.

Trump is also increasing sanctions pressure, and hoping to enlist Russian help, to try to bring Tehran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

Most of the 31 people confirmed killed in the US strikes were women and children, said Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry. More than 100 were injured.

Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a neighborhood known to host several members of the Houthi leadership.

"The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children," said one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia.

In Sanaa, a crane and bulldozer were used to remove debris at one site and people used their bare hands to pick through the rubble. At a hospital, medics treated the injured, including children, and the bodies of several casualties were placed in a yard, wrapped in plastic sheets, Reuters footage showed.

Strikes also targeted Houthi military sites in the city of Taiz, two witnesses said on Sunday.

HOUTHIS' RED SEA ATTACKS DISRUPT GLOBAL TRADE ROUTE

Another strike, on a power station in the town of Dahyan, led to a power cut, Al-Masirah TV reported early on Sunday. Dahyan is where Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis, often meets visitors.

The Houthi attacks on shipping have disrupted global commerce and set the US military off on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones.

The militants suspended their campaign when Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza in January.

But on March 12, the Houthis said their threat to attack Israeli ships would remain in effect until Israel reapproved the delivery of aid and food into Gaza.

Joe Biden's previous US administration had also sought to degrade the Houthis' strike power. But US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump had authorized a more aggressive approach.

The US military's Central Command described Saturday's strikes as the start of a large-scale operation across Yemen.

The strikes were carried out in part by fighter aircraft from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea, officials said.

Iran condemned the strikes as a "gross violation" of the UN Charter and international law.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the US government had "no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy".