Hezbollah Shelling on Israel Resumes Intensity after Repairing its Military Machine

A giant banner depicting a drone bearing the emblem of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah flying above an inhabited area, with text in Hebrew and Persian reading titled "the beginning of bloodlust", is pictured on the facade of a building in Palestine Square in Tehran on August 31, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A giant banner depicting a drone bearing the emblem of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah flying above an inhabited area, with text in Hebrew and Persian reading titled "the beginning of bloodlust", is pictured on the facade of a building in Palestine Square in Tehran on August 31, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Hezbollah Shelling on Israel Resumes Intensity after Repairing its Military Machine

A giant banner depicting a drone bearing the emblem of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah flying above an inhabited area, with text in Hebrew and Persian reading titled "the beginning of bloodlust", is pictured on the facade of a building in Palestine Square in Tehran on August 31, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A giant banner depicting a drone bearing the emblem of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah flying above an inhabited area, with text in Hebrew and Persian reading titled "the beginning of bloodlust", is pictured on the facade of a building in Palestine Square in Tehran on August 31, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group resumed its attacks on Israel and intensified its military operations after repairing its military machine damaged in the “preemptive” strike carried out by the Israeli army last Sunday.
Israel said its “preemptive” strikes had targeted the party’s rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.
Field sources in southern Lebanon told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hezbollah repaired its military machine after the strike, which allowed it to resume launching rockets at Israel.
Four days following the Israeli attack, the group focused on using drone explosives and artillery shells to target gatherings of Israeli soldiers near military positions opposite the Lebanese border.

On Thursday, Hezbollah resumed rocket launches with greater intensity. The operations significantly increased on Friday.
The Markaziya news agency reported that Hezbollah launched Falaq and Katyusha rockets at Israeli military sites in the Galilee for the first time since the escalation last Sunday.
Hezbollah’s renewed intensity suggests that the party has "rehabilitated its military machine," which was subjected to heavy bombing on Sunday morning following a wide-scale Israeli attack involving dozens of airstrikes and hundreds of aircraft, aimed at thwarting retaliation for the assassination of its military commander, Fuad Shukr.
Israel has reportedly observed a sharp decrease in the intensity of the bombardment. Israeli media reported on Wednesday that "since the preemptive strike against Hezbollah, the lowest number of rocket launches on the north has been recorded”.
On Saturday morning, sirens were sounded in Misgav Am and Malkiya along the border with Lebanon. The Israeli Army Radio reported that three rockets fell in open areas in the Upper Galilee, without any reports of injuries.
Lebanese media outlets said that around 40 missiles were launched from Lebanon towards Israel, making it the heaviest barrage since last Sunday.



Israeli Gunfire Hits Perimeter of UN Peacekeeping Post in Lebanon, UNIFIL Says

A post for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, April 6, 2023. (Reuters)
A post for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, April 6, 2023. (Reuters)
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Israeli Gunfire Hits Perimeter of UN Peacekeeping Post in Lebanon, UNIFIL Says

A post for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, April 6, 2023. (Reuters)
A post for UN peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is pictured near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, April 6, 2023. (Reuters)

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Wednesday that direct fire from the Israeli army had hit the perimeter of one of its peacekeeping positions in south Lebanon.

In a statement, UNIFIL said the incident on Tuesday was the first of its kind since Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last November.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the incident, in which UNIFIL said one of its bases in the village of Kfar Shouba in southern Lebanon was hit.

"In recent days, UNIFIL has also observed other aggressive behavior by the Israeli military towards peacekeepers performing operational activities in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1701," it said, referring to a UN resolution originally adopted in 2006 to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Tuesday's incident occurred near the Blue Line, a UN-mapped demarcation separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Any unauthorized crossing of the Blue Line by land or by air from any side constitutes a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.

UNIFIL cited other alleged incidents it blamed on the Israeli army, including being targeted by lasers while it was performing a patrol with the Lebanese army in the southern border town of Maroun al-Ras on Tuesday.

Israel has continued to occasionally strike areas in south Lebanon, saying that it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. It has also struck the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut several times.

The ceasefire terms require that neither Hezbollah nor any other armed group have weapons in areas near the border south of the Litani River, which flows into the Mediterranean some 20 km (12 miles) north of the Israeli border.

They require Israel to withdraw troops from the south and that the Lebanese army deploy into the border region.

Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of failing to fully implement the deal. Israel still occupies five hilltop positions in the south. Rockets have been fired from Lebanon towards Israel twice, though Hezbollah denied any role.

Israel killed thousands of Hezbollah fighters in the war, destroyed much of its arsenal and eliminated its top leaders, including Hassan Nasrallah.

The war spiraled after Hezbollah opened fire at the beginning of the Gaza war, declaring solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas.