Israeli warplanes struck Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley yesterday, killing at least two Hizbollah members in its deepest attack into Lebanese territory since hostilities erupted with the Iran-backed group last October, sources in Lebanon said.
Underlining the risks of escalation, Hizbollah responded by firing 60 rockets at an Israeli army headquarters in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the group’s Al-Manar television reported.
An Israeli army spokesperson said dozens of rockets were fired towards the Golan Heights from Lebanon.
The attacks marked an intensification of the worst violence between the heavily armed Hizbollah and Israel since their 2006 war, fuelling concern of the potential for further escalation and regional spillover of the Gaza war.
The Israeli army said its fighter jets had struck Hizbollah air defences in the Bekaa Valley in response to the downing of an Israeli drone, which Hizbollah said it had shot down with a surface-to-air missile earlier yesterday.
In a separate attack, an Israeli airstrike hit a car in the town of Mjadel in southern Lebanon, killing a Hizbollah field commander, three security sources in Lebanon said.
Israel’s military posted a video of the strike and said the target was Hassan Hossein Salami, who it said had been responsible for activities including missile launches directed at Israel.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant indicated on Sunday that Israel planned to increase attacks on Hizbollah in the event of a possible ceasefire in the Gaza conflict.
“If a temporary pause is reached in Gaza, we will increase the fire in the north separately, and will continue until the full withdrawal of Hizbollah [from the border] and the return of Israeli citizens to their homes,” he said.
However, he left the door open to diplomacy.
“The goal is simple - to withdraw Hizbollah to where it should be - either via a agreement, or we will do it by force,” he said in the statement sent from his office.
The violence has uprooted tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.