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Hezbollah Launches Dozens of Rockets at Northern Israel

Projectiles fired from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system to intercept missiles fired from southern Lebanon, over the upper Galilee, northern Israel, early 04 August 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Projectiles fired from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system to intercept missiles fired from southern Lebanon, over the upper Galilee, northern Israel, early 04 August 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Hezbollah Launches Dozens of Rockets at Northern Israel

Projectiles fired from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system to intercept missiles fired from southern Lebanon, over the upper Galilee, northern Israel, early 04 August 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Projectiles fired from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system to intercept missiles fired from southern Lebanon, over the upper Galilee, northern Israel, early 04 August 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

Hezbollah said it had bombarded northern Israel late on Saturday with “dozens of Katyusha rockets” in response to Israeli attacks that hit civilians in southern Lebanon.
Concerns are rising in Lebanon about an outbreak of a war between Hezbollah and Israel amid regional tension.
In a statement, Hezbollah said: “In response to the enemy’s attacks on the southern villages... particularly the attacks on the villages of Kfar Kila and Deir Siryan and the injury of civilians'', it targeted a new area, “Beit Hillel”, in northern Israel with “dozens of Katyusha rockets”.
The Israeli enemy said that Hezbollah launched about 30 rockets from Lebanon at the Galilee region late last night.
According to the Times of Israel on Sunday, Israel said the Iron Dome air defense system intercepted most of those rockets, but one of them fell on the northern town of Beit Hillel, and several other rockets landed in open areas.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets have in response targeted the rocket launcher used in the attack in the town of Marjayoun in southern Lebanon, as well as other Hezbollah infrastructure in the area.
The Israeli army also stated that it shelled the area of Adaysseh with artillery.

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Lebanon Marks Four Years since Port Blast as War Fears Loom

A view shows the partially collapsed grain silos damaged in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast, as Lebanon prepares to mark the four-year anniversary of the explosion, in Beirut, Lebanon August 2, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows the partially collapsed grain silos damaged in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast, as Lebanon prepares to mark the four-year anniversary of the explosion, in Beirut, Lebanon August 2, 2024. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Marks Four Years since Port Blast as War Fears Loom

A view shows the partially collapsed grain silos damaged in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast, as Lebanon prepares to mark the four-year anniversary of the explosion, in Beirut, Lebanon August 2, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows the partially collapsed grain silos damaged in the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast, as Lebanon prepares to mark the four-year anniversary of the explosion, in Beirut, Lebanon August 2, 2024. (Reuters)

Lebanon on Sunday marks four years since a catastrophic explosion at Beirut's port killed more than 220 people, with fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah hanging heavy over the grim commemoration.

Several marches are set to converge on the port in the afternoon to remember the victims and demand justice.

Nobody has been held responsible for the August 4, 2020 disaster -- one of history's biggest non-nuclear explosions -- which also injured at least 6,500 people and devastated swathes of the capital.

Authorities said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been haphazardly stored for years.

An investigation has stalled, mired in legal and political wrangling.

"The complete lack of accountability for such a manmade disaster is staggering," United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement on Saturday.

"One would expect the concerned authorities to work tirelessly to lift all barriers... but the opposite is happening," she said, calling for "an impartial, thorough, and transparent investigation to deliver truth, justice, and accountability".

In December 2020, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former prime minister Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence, but as political pressure mounted, he was removed from the case.

His successor, Tarek Bitar, unsuccessfully asked lawmakers to lift parliamentary immunity for MPs who were formerly cabinet ministers.

In December 2021, Bitar suspended his probe after a barrage of lawsuits, while the powerful Hezbollah group has accused him of bias and demanded his dismissal.

But in January last year, he resumed investigations, charging eight new suspects including high-level security officials and Lebanon's top prosecutor, who in turn charged Bitar with "usurping power" and ordered the release of detainees in the case.

The process has since stalled again.

A judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Bitar would "resume his proceedings, starting next week" and intends to finish "the investigation and issue his indictment decision... by the end of the year".

Bitar will set dates for questioning defendants who have not yet appeared before him, according to the official.

If the public prosecutor's office or other relevant judicial officials fail to cooperate, Bitar "will issue arrest warrants in absentia" for the defendants, the official added.

Activists have called for a UN fact-finding mission into the blast, but Lebanese officials have repeatedly rejected the demand.

Prospects of further disaster loom over this year's anniversary, with Hamas ally Hezbollah and the Israeli army trading cross-border fire since the Palestinian group's October 7 attack that triggered the Gaza war and fears that an all-out conflict could engulf Lebanon.