The Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which monitor hostilities along the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, have described the developments on the Lebanese-Israeli border as ‘worrying.”
This came as Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanged attacks across the Lebanon-Israel border.
Israel on Sunday, August 25, 2024, carried out airstrikes in Lebanon in what it described as a pre-emptive action before a planned large-scale Hezbollah attack, and Hezbollah launched a drone and rocket salvo against northern Israel, in a significant escalation of a simmering cross-border conflict.
Hezbollah disclosed that it used drones and more than 320 rockets against 11 Israeli military sites as a “first phase” of its response to the death of one of its top commanders, Fuad Shukr, in an Israeli airstrike last month.
It did not say when a second phase might come.
In a joint statement, the agencies said, “In light of worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning, UNSCOL and UNIFIL call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action.”
“A return to the cessation of hostilities, followed by the implementation of UN security council resolution 1701, is the only sustainable way forward,” they added.
Hezbollah declared that it had completed its operations, which it claimed were successful, and was unaffected by the Israeli airstrikes.
However, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Nadav Shoshani, claimed that the Hezbollah rocket and drone assault had been “part of a larger attack that was planned and we were able to thwart a big part of it.”
A Hezbollah official said that the group’s rocket and drone attack against Israel on Sunday in retaliation for a top commander’s killing last month had been delayed by “political considerations.”
The official added that the group had “worked” to make sure its response to the killing of Fuad Shukr on July 30, 2024, would not trigger a full-scale war.
The main “political consideration” was the ongoing talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal for the Gaza Strip.
Hamas welcomed Hezbollah’s attack on Israel in a post on Telegram.
The group described Hezbollah’s drone and rocket salvo against northern Israel as a “major qualitative response” that hit “vital and strategic targets.
It commended the “strong and focused response” to the assassination of senior Hezbollah Commander, Fuad Shukr.
“The crimes against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples will not pass without a response,” it added.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Israel’s action against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon “is not the end of the story.”
He also said that the leaders of Hezbollah and Iran should know that the response was “another step towards changing the situation in the north and returning our residents safely to their homes.”
Egypt Warns Visiting US General On Risk Of Major Conflict In Lebanon
Also on Sunday, Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, warned America’s top General of the dangers of a major conflict in Lebanon.
US Air Force General, CQ Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Egypt hours after the missile exchange between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group.
In a statement, Sisi’s office said that the Egyptian leader told Brown that the international community needed to “exert all efforts and intensify pressures to defuse tension and stop the state of escalation that threatens the security and stability of the entire region.”
The statement read, “(Sisi warned) in this regard of the dangers of opening a new front in Lebanon, and stressing the need to preserve Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty.”
It added, “We will continue our contacts to strongly urge for de-escalation.”
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