Now it’s Israel and Hezbollah….
Israeli’s in the North are cautioned about possible missile attacks….
Israel’s Gaza op is smaller , but ongoing…..
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire overnight, after a week of audacious Israeli attacks in Lebanon killed some of the militant group’s top commanders and again stoked fears of a broader war.
On Saturday, Israel pummeled southern Lebanon with strikes on about 400 Hezbollah targets. Early Sunday, Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and backed by Iran, launched missiles at northern Israel in retaliation for that, as well as for the wave of Israeli attacks over previous days. Though Hezbollah’s barrage set off alarms in roughly 70 towns across northern Israel, most of the missiles were intercepted. There were reports of only minor injuries in Israel on Sunday.
Israel’s earlier attacks in Lebanon, which killed dozens of people and injured thousands, created days of chaos across Lebanon, and fueled fears that Israel’s military was shifting its focus toward Hezbollah, and away from Hamas in Gaza, something it had been warning for months that it would do.
Hezbollah has regularly been firing missiles at Israel ever since October, when Hamas led the invasion into Israel that set off the current war. But the most recent attacks represent an uptick in the conflict along Israel’s northern border.
Here’s what else to know:
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Friday attack: Lebanese authorities said the death toll had risen to at least 37, including three children, in Friday’s attacks. Hezbollah confirmed the death of a top commander, Ibrahim Aqeel, who oversaw its operations against Israel. He was wanted by the United States for his role in two 1983 bombing attacks in Beirut that killed more than 350 people.
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Gaza War: Israel has continued attacks in Gaza, saying it struck a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City on Saturday because it believed Hamas militants were using the building as a command center. Palestinian health authorities said the attack killed 22 people.
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Calls to investigate: Members of the U.N. Security Council called on Friday for an investigation into the attacks in Lebanon — widely attributed to Israel — that detonated pagers and walkie-talkies. The nature of the attacks, which transformed ordinary devices into weapons, drew widespread condemnation at the meeting.
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Divided nations: Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, has canceled a planned trip to New York for the U.N. General Assembly. He blamed Israel’s attacks for his decision. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also said he would be delaying his departure to New York…..
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Why the pager/hand radio op?
Israel’s reason for pressing one such “red button” this week remains murky, though experts have speculated that Israeli officials were worried that the conversion of thousands of pagers to miniature IEDs was at risk of being detected. Such attacks are generally designed to be unleashed as a prelude to a broader offensive, officials said, sowing chaos in preparation for follow-on military operations.
The explosions on Tuesday killed at least 12 people and wounded as many as 2,800, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, including Hezbollah operatives but also civilians and children. A second wave involving radios on Wednesday killed at least 25 people and injured 450, the ministry said. An Israeli airstrike Friday on a Beirut suburb killed more than 30 people, including two Hezbollah commanders and other members of the group as well as children, but the pager and radio explosions have not been followed by major Israeli military incursions into Lebanon……
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