Hezbollah vows to retaliate for fatal Israeli airstrikes
NABATIYEH, LEBANON >> The civilian death toll from two Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon has risen to 10, Lebanese state media reported Thursday, making the previous day the deadliest in more than four months of cross-border exchanges.
Israel's military said it killed a senior commander with the Hezbollah group's elite Radwan Force, Ali Dibs, who it says played a role in an attack inside Israel last year that unnerved Israelis, as well as other attacks directed at Israel over the past four months. It said Dibs was killed Wednesday along with his deputy Hassan Ibrahim Issa, as well as another Hezbollah operative, in a strike in the southern city of Nabatiyeh.
Hezbollah confirmed three of its fighters were killed and released photos of Dibs and Issa without giving information about their roles in the group. A Lebanese security official said Dibs escaped a drone strike in Nabatiyeh last week. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate for Wednesday's strikes, which hit Nabatiyeh and a village in southern Lebanon, just hours after projectiles from Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier.
On Thursday evening, Hezbollah said it carried out its “initial response” by firing “tens of Katyusha rockets” on the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. There was no immediate word on casualties from the town, where most residents have joined the tens of thousands who have fled the area since the fighting began in October.
More Israeli strikes were reported in south Lebanon on Thursday and Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the escalation.
“At a time when we are insisting on calm and call on all sides not to escalate, we find the Israeli enemy extending its aggression,” read a statement from his office.
The Israeli military said Thursday's strikes targeted Hezbollah infrastructure and launch posts. Lebanese state media said Israel's air force carried out strikes near the border towns of Labbouneh, Wadi Slouqi, Majdal Selm and Houla, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency, or NNA.
The Israeli army would continue to respond to Hezbollah's regular attacks, said spokesperson Avi Hyman from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. “Our message to Hezbollah has and always will be: Don't try us.”
The U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border, known as UNIFIL, expressed concerns over the latest “exchanges of fire,” and urged all sides involved to halt hostilities to prevent further escalation.
“Attacks targeting civilians are violations of international law and constitute war crimes,” UNIFIL's spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement. “The devastation, loss of life, and injuries witnessed are deeply concerning.”
In Nabatiyeh, the strike demolished part of a building, killing seven members of the same family, including a child, the NNA said. A boy initially reported missing was found alive under the rubble. First reports had said four people were killed.