Israel Says it Struck Hezbollah Sites in Lebanon after Drone Attack on Mount Hermon

An Israeli fighter jet ejects flares while flying over an area near the Lebanon-Israel border, as seen from an undisclosed location in northern Israel, 07 July 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli fighter jet ejects flares while flying over an area near the Lebanon-Israel border, as seen from an undisclosed location in northern Israel, 07 July 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Israel Says it Struck Hezbollah Sites in Lebanon after Drone Attack on Mount Hermon

An Israeli fighter jet ejects flares while flying over an area near the Lebanon-Israel border, as seen from an undisclosed location in northern Israel, 07 July 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli fighter jet ejects flares while flying over an area near the Lebanon-Israel border, as seen from an undisclosed location in northern Israel, 07 July 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

Israel's military said in a statement early on Monday it launched multiple air and artillery strikes overnight on what it said were Hezbollah military targets in Lebanon.

The strikes came after the Iranian-backed militant group said on Sunday it had launched a drone attack on Mount Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Israel has key surveillance, espionage and air defense installations on Mount Hermon where it overlooks the Syrian capital.

Hezbollah said this was its first such bombing since it began trading fire with Israel on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking the Gaza war. Hezbollah says it would halt operations only when the war ends.

Although it had hit other areas in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights repeatedly, Hezbollah said it was the first time to hit the military target that is at the highest elevation in the Israeli-controlled territory.



Lebanon Hopes for Neighborly Relations in First Message to New Syria Government

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon Hopes for Neighborly Relations in First Message to New Syria Government

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.

Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib passed the message to his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in a phone call, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said on X.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad through years of war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel - a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.

Under Assad, Hezbollah used Syria to bring in weapons and other military equipment from Iran, through Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon. But on Dec. 6, anti-Assad fighters seized the border with Iraq and cut off that route, and two days later, opposition factions captured the capital Damascus.

Syria's new de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is seeking to establish relations with Arab and Western leaders after toppling Assad.