Tel AVIV: Lebanese militants have fired a barrage of anti-tank missiles at an army base, scoring a number of direct hits, according to the Israeli military. Israel responded with heavy artillery fire toward targets in southern Lebanon.The sudden burst of violence raised the prospect of a wider round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The bitter enemies, who fought a month-long war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate, have appeared to be on a collision course in recent weeks amid a series of covert and overt Israeli military strikes and Hezbollah vows of revenge.Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri held telephone calls with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as well as an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron, urging Washington and Paris as well as the international community to intervene in the volatile situation.Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy and Iran-backed Hezbollah to be its most immediate military threat. Hezbollah has an experienced army that has been fighting alongside the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria’s civil war and it is believed to possess an arsenal of some 130,000 missiles and rockets. Throughout the Syrian war, Israel has acknowledged carrying out scores of air strikes aimed at preventing alleged Iranian arms transfers to Hezbollah. In recent weeks, Israel is believed to have struck Iranian or Hezbollah targets in Iraq and Lebanon as well.Hezbollah has vowed to avenge the deaths of a pair of operatives it says were killed in an Israeli strike in Syria last week. It is also out to avenge an alleged Israeli drone strike in Beirut that Israeli media have said destroyed a sophisticated piece of equipment needed to manufacture precision-guided missiles.
09-02-2019, 07:35 PM
Israel says multiple targets hit by Lebanese militants
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