Hezbollah Announces 509 Operations against Israel Since War Began

A man walks near a destroyed home in Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon after an Israeli strike (AFP)
A man walks near a destroyed home in Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon after an Israeli strike (AFP)
TT
20

Hezbollah Announces 509 Operations against Israel Since War Began

A man walks near a destroyed home in Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon after an Israeli strike (AFP)
A man walks near a destroyed home in Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon after an Israeli strike (AFP)

Hezbollah conducted 509 operations against Israel in northern Palestine and southern Lebanon since the beginning of the war on Gaza until Dec. 14.

Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah continued, and the Israeli army said on Saturday that it targeted an area in southern Lebanon after three rockets were launched from Lebanese territory.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said via his "X" account that warplanes raided a series of Hezbollah targets, referring to several missiles launched from Lebanon towards Israel in recent hours.

Adraee indicated that the army responded with artillery shelling towards areas in Lebanon.

Al-Manar channel quoted Israeli media as saying that a bomb-laden drone was launched from Lebanon and hit an army gathering in Margaliot, causing two casualties. It also noted that Israeli military censorship banned publishing information about the security event.

Hezbollah mourned one of its fighters while announcing several military operations that targeted gatherings of Israeli soldiers and military sites, in addition to two homes where soldiers were stationed.

In separate statements, the Islamic Resistance announced that its fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the Ramim forest.

They also spotted a group of Israeli soldiers entering two houses in the al-Manara settlement. They targeted the two houses with appropriate weapons, directly hitting them and causing deaths and injuries.

A drone attacked a position of Israeli soldiers outside the Ramim barracks, the occupied Lebanese village of Honin, which led to confirmed casualties. ‏

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the operation, followed by another statement in which it said that the resistance fighters attacked the Israeli Metula site using guided munitions, adding that it was able to verify several casualties.

Earlier in the day, the Islamic Resistance announced that its fighters targeted a bunker where Israeli soldiers were entrenched in the occupied Birket Risha military site with a guided missile, resulting in confirmed casualties.

The National News Agency (NNA) reported that the operation was hours after Israel targeted the position in Birkat Risha on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab and Ramieh.

An Israeli raid targeted the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab and Wadi Hassan between Majdal Zun and al-Jebain, and attacks were recorded on a valley near Ramiya and Jabal Balat in the western sector.

It was also reported that an interceptor missile had exploded in the airspace of al-Dhahira.

The NNA reported that the Israeli army escalated its violent attacks at night until just before midnight, as military aircraft raided an area between Mansouri and Majdal Zoun and on the outskirts of Naqoura and Jabal al-Labouneh.

The drones fired a ground-air missile targeting the vicinity of Aita al-Shaab. The artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of most of the towns in the western and central sectors adjacent to the Blue Line.

On Friday evening, CNN quoted US officials saying that Israelis attacked Lebanese Armed Forces positions more than 34 times since Oct. 7, including with small arms and artillery fire, drones, and helicopters.

The Biden administration has told Israel that the strikes against the Lebanese military are unacceptable, officials said.

According to a senior US official, Washington believes at least some of those strikes have been accidental, intended instead for Hezbollah.

But the intention of other strikes has been less clear, the official said, and more junior Israeli troops may not be exercising enough restraint.



Lebanon’s PM Visits Syrian President to Discuss Border Demarcation and Security

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria April 14, 2025. (Dalati & Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria April 14, 2025. (Dalati & Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
TT
20

Lebanon’s PM Visits Syrian President to Discuss Border Demarcation and Security

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria April 14, 2025. (Dalati & Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria April 14, 2025. (Dalati & Nohra/Handout via Reuters)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam led a high-level ministerial delegation to Syria on Monday for talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, marking the most significant diplomatic visit between the two countries since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December.

"My visit to Damascus today aims to open a new page in the history of relations between the two countries, based on mutual respect, restoring trust, good neighborliness," Salam said in a statement on X.

At the center of discussions was implementing a March 28 agreement signed in Saudi Arabia by the Syrian and Lebanese defense ministers to demarcate land and sea borders and improve coordination on border security issues, Salam said in the statement.

The Lebanese-Syrian border witnessed deadly clashes earlier this year and years of unrest in the frontier regions, which have been plagued by weapons and illicit drug smuggling through illegal crossings.

During Monday’s meeting, Salam and Sharaa agreed to form a joint ministerial committee to oversee the implementation of the border agreement, close illegal crossings and suppress smuggling activity along the border.

The border area, especially near Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and Syria’s Qusayr region, has long been a corridor for illicit trade, arms trafficking, and the movement of fighters — including Hezbollah fighters who backed the Assad government during Syria’s 14-year civil war.

Hezbollah has been significantly weakened in its recent war with Israel and since Assad's ousting, it lost several key smuggling routes it once relied on for weapons transfers.

Lebanon also pressed Syria to provide clarity on the fate of thousands of Lebanese nationals who were forcibly disappeared or imprisoned in Syrian jails in the 1980s and 1990s, during Syria’s nearly 30-year military presence in Lebanon. Human rights groups have long documented the lack of accountability and transparency regarding these cases, with families of the missing holding regular demonstrations in Beirut demanding answers.

Syrian officials for their part raised the issue of Syrian nationals detained in Lebanese prisons, Salam said. Many of the detainees were arrested for illegal entry or alleged involvement in militant activity. Rights advocates in both countries have criticized the lack of due process in many of these cases and the poor conditions inside detention facilities.

Lebanon pledged to hand over people implicated in crimes committed by the Assad government and security forces, many of whom are believed to have fled to Lebanon after the government’s collapse, if found on Lebanese soil, a ministerial source told The Associated Press.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly comment.

In return, Lebanese officials requested the extradition of Syrians wanted in Lebanese courts for high-profile political assassinations, "most notably those involved in the bombing of the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques, those convicted of assassinating President Bashir Gemayel, and other crimes for which the Assad regime is accused," Salam said.

For decades, Lebanon witnessed a long series of politically motivated assassinations targeting journalists, politicians and security officials, particularly those opposed to Syrian influence. The 2013 twin bombings of the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques in Tripoli in northern Lebanon killed more than 40 people and intensified sectarian tensions already heightened by the spillover from the Syrian war.

Syria has never officially acknowledged involvement in any of Lebanon’s political assassinations.

Salam said he also pushed for renewed cooperation on the return of Syrian refugees.

Lebanese government officials estimate the country hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, of whom about 755,000 are officially registered with the UN refugee agency, or UNHCR, making it the country with the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.

While Lebanese authorities have long urged the international community to support large-scale repatriation efforts, human rights organizations have cautioned against forced returns, citing ongoing security concerns and a lack of guarantees in Syria.

Since the fall of Assad in December, an estimated 400,000 refugees have returned to Syria from neighboring countries, according to UNHCR, with about half of them coming from Lebanon, but many are hesitant to return because of the dire economic situation and fears of continuing instability in Syria.