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Hezbollah Fires Rockets Into Israel After Deadly Strikes

Hezbollah members prepare a Katyusha rocket launcher (Capture from Hezbollah video)
Hezbollah members prepare a Katyusha rocket launcher (Capture from Hezbollah video)
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Hezbollah Fires Rockets Into Israel After Deadly Strikes

Hezbollah members prepare a Katyusha rocket launcher (Capture from Hezbollah video)
Hezbollah members prepare a Katyusha rocket launcher (Capture from Hezbollah video)

Lebanon's Hezbollah on Sunday said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel after Israeli strikes the day before left five dead in southern Lebanon, including three of the group's members.

Hamas ally Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.

Hezbollah said it had launched "dozens of katyusha-type rockets" in the morning on the Israeli village of Meron, eight kilometres (five miles) from the border.

Meron is home to a major air control base that the Iran-backed group has targeted several times since the start of the year.

Hezbollah said it had acted "in response to Israeli attacks against villages in the south and the homes of civilians", particularly the targeting of the home of a fighter in Kherbet Selm the day before, AFP reported.

A woman and another person were also killed in the same strike, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.

"Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel, approximately 35 launches from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were identified, a number of which were intercepted," the Israeli army said on Sunday.

The statement added that the Israeli air force struck Hezbollah infrastructure during the night, including a "military structure in which Hezbollah militants were identified in the area of Khirbet Selm".

At least 312 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of cross-border violence on October 8, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 53 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed, according to the latest official figures.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting on both sides of the border.

Strikes have largely remained confined to border regions for the moment, but several have hit Hezbollah positions further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

The group has repeatedly said that it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in Gaza.

But Israeli Defene Minister Yoav Gallant said recently that any truce in Gaza would not change Israel's goal of pushing Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, by force or diplomacy.

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Pezeshkian: Iran Wants a Strong, Independent Iraq

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian places a wreath at the site of Qassem Soleimani’s assassination in Baghdad, Iraq (EPA)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian places a wreath at the site of Qassem Soleimani’s assassination in Baghdad, Iraq (EPA)
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Pezeshkian: Iran Wants a Strong, Independent Iraq

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian places a wreath at the site of Qassem Soleimani’s assassination in Baghdad, Iraq (EPA)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian places a wreath at the site of Qassem Soleimani’s assassination in Baghdad, Iraq (EPA)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian began his foreign tour with a visit to Iraq, where he signed agreements focusing on security and the economy. The two countries also aimed to find new ways to handle debt payments and share water resources.

After arriving in Baghdad, Pezeshkian visited the site of Qassem Soleimani’s assassination and laid a wreath there, a gesture that has become a common practice for Iranian officials visiting the city since 2021.

Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' top commander, was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in 2020.

Iraqi state television showed Pezeshkian and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the reception ceremony, which featured both national anthems. Pezeshkian met with Sudani and the Iraqi President at two locations in the Green Zone.

He was also set to meet with other officials and party leaders before continuing his visit to the Kurdistan region, Basra, Najaf, and Karbala.

Pezeshkian is scheduled to travel to Sulaymaniyah and lay a wreath at the grave of the late President Jalal Talabani, according to an Iranian official.

Sudani called the relationship with Tehran “strong and solid” during a press conference with Pezeshkian. He noted that the two countries’ security forces are working together to secure borders and prevent smuggling.

Pezeshkian said Iran needs new security agreements with Iraq, as both countries face the same threats.

Sudani reiterated that Iraq will not allow its land to be used for actions that could threaten Iran’s security.

Tehran’s main concern is the presence of armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan region.

Baghdad recently closed many of these groups’ offices and removed them from the border area. Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qassem al-Araji said there are plans to resettle these groups in a third country with UN coordination.

In March 2023, Iraq and Iran signed a security agreement after Iran attacked Kurdish opposition groups in northern Iraq.

Since then, both countries agreed to disarm these groups and keep them away from the border. Tehran accuses them of getting weapons from Iraq and inciting protests following the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September 2022.

On his part, Pezeshkian stressed that Iran wants a “strong, stable, secure, and independent Iraq.”