The long-simmering conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border erupted into the deadliest day of violence in more than five months on Wednesday, as a series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed 16 people, and a barrage of rockets fired by the militant group Hezbollah killed one Israeli man. The escalation has raised concerns about the potential for a full-scale war between the two countries, with tens of thousands of people on both sides already displaced by the fighting.
The Israeli strikes targeted a Lebanese Sunni political and militant organization, the Islamic Group, which has joined forces with the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel. Among the 16 killed were seven members of a paramedic center affiliated with the Islamic Group in the village of Hebbariye, two Hezbollah fighters, and a local commander with the Amal Movement, another Shiite group.
Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, the head of the Israeli army's Northern Command, confirmed that Israel was operating against the Islamic Group and had struck a "large number of operatives," while also conducting "very significant strikes" against Hezbollah. "We are at war. We have been at war for almost half a year now, and it doesn't end with Hezbollah," he told a gathering of commanders.
In retaliation for the deadly attack on the paramedic center, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing rockets into the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona and a military base. Rescue services in Israel reported that a 25-year-old man was killed when a direct hit sparked a fire in an industrial park in Kiryat Shmona, with another person lightly injured. The Israeli military stated that around 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel.
Lebanese civilians bore the brunt of the violence, with strikes hitting a small bakery in Hebbariyeh, heavily damaging the business and a nearby apartment. Nada Khleif, the bakery owner, lamented, "The bakery was my only means of living. It is gone now." Further strikes in the villages of Teir Harfa and Naqoura killed nine more people, including paramedics from Hezbollah's Islamic Health Society and the Islamic Risala Scout Association, as well as a local commander from the Amal movement.
The near-daily violence has mostly been confined to the area along the border, with international mediators scrambling to prevent an all-out war. The fighting has claimed the lives of nine civilians and 11 soldiers in Israel, while nearly 240 Hezbollah fighters and about 40 civilians have died in Lebanon.
The current escalation began on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack that sparked the crushing war in Gaza. Since then, Hezbollah has been launching rockets toward Israel, further exacerbating the already tense situation along the border.
