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Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon early Sunday in what it called a preemptive strike to avert a large Hezbollah rocket and missile attack. The militant group said it fired hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of a top commander last month.
Both sides halted the heavy exchange of fire by mid-morning, signaling no immediate further escalation. It came as Egypt hosted high-level talks aimed at a cease-fire in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that diplomats hope will ease regional tensions.
Israel and Hezbollah said they aimed only at military targets. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said its attack had been delayed to give cease-fire talks a chance and the target was an Israeli military intelligence base close to Tel Aviv. Hezbollah, like Hamas, is backed by Iran.
Israel’s military said one soldier with the navy was killed and two others were wounded either by an interceptor for incoming fire, or by shrapnel from one. Two Hezbollah fighters and a militant from an allied group were killed, the groups said.
Hezbollah called its attack on Israeli military positions an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month. Nasrallah said assaults on Israel will continue “because there is still the response of (allies) Iran and Yemen.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel and shot down drones heading for the center of the country.
“I repeat, this is not the end of the story,” he added. Israeli President Isaac Herzog told CBS that Israel’s actions “prevented an escalation to a major war” but the threat remained.
