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.



US Journalist Missing in Syria Since 2012 Is Believed to Be Alive, Says Aid Group

A banner for journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, hangs outside the National Press Club building in Washington, US, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
A banner for journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, hangs outside the National Press Club building in Washington, US, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
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US Journalist Missing in Syria Since 2012 Is Believed to Be Alive, Says Aid Group

A banner for journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, hangs outside the National Press Club building in Washington, US, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
A banner for journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, hangs outside the National Press Club building in Washington, US, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)

American journalist Austin Tice is believed to be still alive, according to the head of an international aid group.

Nizar Zakka, who runs the Hostage Aid Worldwide organization, said there has never been any proof that Tice, who has been missing since 2012, is dead.

He told reporters in Damascus on Tuesday that Tice was alive in January and being held by the authorities of ousted Bashar al-Assad. He added that US President Joe Biden said in August that Tice was alive.

Zakka said Tice was transferred between security agencies over the past 12 years, including in an area where Iranian-backed fighters were operating.

Asked if it was possible Tice had been taken out of the country, Zakka said Assad most likely kept him in Syria as a potential bargaining chip.

Biden said Dec. 8 that his administration believed Tice was alive and was committed to bringing him home, though he also acknowledged that “we have no direct evidence” of his status.