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Hezbollah Resumes Steady Rocket, Artillery Fire against Israel

Israeli soldiers stand near an army self-propelled artillery vehicle on the outskirts of Kiryat Shmona near Israel's border with Lebanon on July 6, 2023. © Jalaa Marey, AFP
Israeli soldiers stand near an army self-propelled artillery vehicle on the outskirts of Kiryat Shmona near Israel's border with Lebanon on July 6, 2023. © Jalaa Marey, AFP
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Hezbollah Resumes Steady Rocket, Artillery Fire against Israel

Israeli soldiers stand near an army self-propelled artillery vehicle on the outskirts of Kiryat Shmona near Israel's border with Lebanon on July 6, 2023. © Jalaa Marey, AFP
Israeli soldiers stand near an army self-propelled artillery vehicle on the outskirts of Kiryat Shmona near Israel's border with Lebanon on July 6, 2023. © Jalaa Marey, AFP

Hezbollah forces on Friday resumed rocket and artillery attacks against Israel, ending the lull along the border following Israel's killing of the Lebanese group's military commander in Beirut.

Hezbollah said it had fired a surface-to-air missile at an Israeli warplane flying in Lebanese airspace overnight and forced it to turn back. Its forces also carried out two artillery attacks and two rocket strikes at military positions in northern Israel, it said, Reuters reported.

The Israeli military said in a statement it had successfully intercepted an aerial target coming from Lebanon into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire hit several villages in southern Lebanon on Friday, according to Lebanese state media, a day after an Israeli strike killed at least five Syrian migrant workers in southern Lebanon, according to medics.

The Israeli military also said it had hit two Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in an address on Thursday that he had ordered calm along the border following the Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Tuesday that killed military commander Fuad Shukr out of respect for the victims and to consider what the next steps should be.

The strike on the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh in Beirut's southern suburbs also killed an Iranian military adviser and five civilians.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah would retaliate but it would need to study what their response would be, and would otherwise resume its usual military operations against Israel.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been trading fire for nearly 10 months in parallel with the Gaza war, with exchanges mostly limited to the border area.

But strikes since last week have threatened to tip the conflict into a full-scale regional war.

Israel and the United States have accused Hezbollah of killing 12 youths in a July 27 rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a claim Hezbollah has denied.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, told Reuters on Friday it had not investigated the incident as the Israeli-occupied Golan is outside its mandated area of operations.

 

 

 

 

 

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Arab World

Algeria Threatens France with ‘Additional Measures’ Over Sahara Position

The Algerian and French presidents in August 2022 (Algerian presidency)
The Algerian and French presidents in August 2022 (Algerian presidency)
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Algeria Threatens France with ‘Additional Measures’ Over Sahara Position

The Algerian and French presidents in August 2022 (Algerian presidency)
The Algerian and French presidents in August 2022 (Algerian presidency)

Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf has announced that his country will take additional measures against France, in response to Paris’ position in support of Morocco’s plan for autonomy in the Sahara.

During a press conference in Algiers, attended by AFP, Attaf said: “We will take the necessary steps to express our rejection of France taking such a step, which is dangerous for the region.”

He added that Algeria’s decision to recall its ambassador from Paris for consultations was only a first step that will be followed by additional protest measures.

According to the Algerian minister, French President Emmanuel Macron had informed his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in June in Italy, of the decision that Paris intends to take.

Attaf stressed that the Algerian president’s response to his French counterpart was “strict, resolute and precise,” warning that such a step will not contribute to reviving the political track.

His position comes after Macron confirmed that the Moroccan proposal “constitutes, from now on, the only basis for reaching a just, sustainable, and negotiated political solution, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.”

Tebboune was scheduled to visit France in September, but Attaf hinted that this visit may not take place due to Macron’s position.

The Moroccan authorities proposed an autonomy plan for the Sahara under its sovereignty. However, the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, has been demanding sovereignty over it since the Spanish occupation left the region in 1975, and is demanding a self-determination referendum under the auspices of the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI invited the French president to an official visit to the country, after Paris announced its stance in support of the country’s sovereignty over the disputed Sahara region.

“I fully appreciate your country’s clear support for Morocco’s sovereignty over this part of its territory, the resolute French support for autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty to settle this regional dispute, thereby establishing the plan proposed by Morocco, since 2007, as the only basis for achieving it,” the monarch said in his letter.

He continued: “In this context, and thanks to the positive momentum that our bilateral relations are experiencing, promising prospects are opening up for our two countries in many strategic sectors, making it possible to strengthen the exceptional partnership built over decades on friendship and trust.”