Politics Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah
Israel's army and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon once again engaged in heavy fighting during the night.
During the night, the pro-Iranian militia fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel, reaching further than ever before. The shells were fired in several volleys, as the "Times of Israel" reported, citing the army. Most of them were intercepted. Israel's air force said it had attacked around 110 militia positions in southern Lebanon in the evening hours, including operational rocket launchers and "terrorist infrastructure". Around 400 targets had been attacked since Saturday afternoon, it said. In the early hours of the morning, sirens blared in several areas in northern Israel.
In view of the escalation, the army tightened restrictions for residents in northern Israel in the early morning. Classes are not allowed to take place on the Golan Heights and in the coastal city of Haifa, among other places. Workplaces may only be visited if there is a shelter nearby, as reported by the "Times of Israel". Outdoor gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10 people and indoor gatherings to 100 participants.
USA calls on citizens to leave Lebanon
In view of the escalation, the USA is calling on its citizens to leave Lebanon. Due to the unpredictable developments "and the recent explosions throughout Lebanon", including the capital Beirut, the US embassy "strongly advises its nationals to leave Lebanon while commercial options are still available", the US State Department announced. Flights are still available, but with reduced capacity.
Meanwhile, according to the Arabic TV channel Al-Jazeera, Israeli soldiers entered the company's offices in the occupied West Bank in the early morning and ordered their temporary closure. Heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers entered the building and imposed a 45-day closure, it said. They did not give a reason for this decision. The Israeli government had already used an emergency law in May to shut down the station's operations in Israel.
Report: Israel closes Al-Jazeera office in the West Bank
The so-called Al-Jazeera law allows Israel's government to close down foreign TV stations if they are deemed a risk to the security of the state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had described the Arab broadcaster as a "mouthpiece" of the Islamist Hamas, which had harmed Israel's security. Al-Jazeera rejected the accusations and spoke of a "criminal act".
The already tense situation in the West Bank has worsened considerably since the massacre by Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7 last year and the resulting Gaza war. Since then, according to the authorities in Ramallah, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, armed clashes and attacks by extremists.
Meanwhile, there is growing concern that the conflict between Israel's armed forces and Hamas-allied Hezbollah in Lebanon is developing into a conflagration. "Extensive attacks were carried out" in the south of the neighboring country after Hezbollah was found to be preparing to fire on Israeli territory, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced in the evening. The approximately 400 Hezbollah rocket launchers hit in Lebanon included thousands of rocket launchers.
Report: USA hopes for diplomatic solution
On Friday, Israel's army carried out an attack on a suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, killing 16 Hezbollah members, including senior Hezbollah military commander Ibrahim Akil, whom the Israeli military claimed was the target of the attack. Several other senior Hezbollah commanders were also killed. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 37 people were killed in the attack, including three children.
According to officials, the US government is "extremely concerned" about the risk of an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon, reported the news portal "Axios". However, Washington hopes to be able to use Israel's increasing military pressure on Hezbollah to reach a diplomatic agreement so that civilians on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border can return to their homes.
Israel wants to use diplomatic and increasing military pressure to ensure that Hezbollah withdraws from the border area, as stipulated by a UN resolution. As soon as the region near the border is safe again, 60,000 Israelis who have fled are to return to their homes and apartments. However, the pro-Iranian Shiite militia does not want to stop its attacks on Israel until there is a ceasefire between Israel and its ally, the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel and the USA are looking for ways to decouple the Hezbollah militia from Hamas, "Axios" further reported.
Renewed mass protests in Israel
The efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages still being held there by Hamas have been going round in circles for weeks. According to local media reports, tens of thousands of people once again took to the streets in Israel this evening to demand a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. The organizers even spoke of hundreds of thousands of participants in Tel Aviv and other cities.
"Stop the bloodshed," read one protest sign. "Liri - sorry," said the father of a kidnapped woman at a rally in Tel Aviv. The father said that some far-right ministers in particular were to blame for the fact that no agreement had yet been reached with Hamas to end the war and release the hostages.
Critics of Prime Minister Netanyahu accuse him of sabotaging the indirect negotiations with the Islamists. Netanyahu governs with ultra-religious and far-right coalition partners who refuse to make concessions to Hamas. Netanyahu, who is the subject of a corruption trial, is dependent on these partners for his political survival.
SDA
