Lebanon PM’s ‘new war’ warning as Israel intercepts rockets
Israel’s army chief warned the military would “respond severely” after saying it had intercepted three rockets fired from Lebanon whose Prime Minister has warned it risks entering a “new war”.
Middle East
Don't miss out on the headlines from Middle East. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir warned the military would “respond severely” after the army said it had intercepted three rockets fired from Lebanon.
“The IDF (army) will respond severely to the morning’s attack,” Zamir said Saturday.
“The state of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also warned the military would hit back.
“We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities,” Katz said.
“The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly.”
Air raid sirens sounded in Metula, an Israeli town near the Lebanese border.
“We promised security to Galilee communities, and that is exactly what will happen,” Katz said. “Metula’s fate is the same as Beirut’s.”
The official National News Agency in Lebanon said Israeli warplanes flew over eastern areas of southern Lebanon and that interceptor missiles exploded.
NNA said Israeli ground troops were strafing the Hamames hills with automatic weapon fire.
It also reported Israeli artillery fire on the Nabatieh district in the south and the town of Khiam, which was hit by “three shells (fired by) Merkava tanks”.
The military also fired automatic weapons at the border villages of Hula, Markaba and Kfar Kila.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also warned his country was at risk of being drawn into a “new war”, after Israel said it would respond to rockets fired from Lebanon.
“Salam warned of renewed military operations on the southern border, because of the risks they carry dragging the country into a new war, which will bring woes to Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” he said.
FOLLOW MORE UPDATES:
ISRAEL THREATENS TO ANNEX PARTS OF GAZA
It comes as Mr Katz also threatened to annex parts of the Gaza Strip unless Hamas militants release the remaining Israeli hostages held in the war-battered Palestinian territory.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said that 504 people had been killed since the bombardment resumed, one of the highest tolls since the war began more than 17 months ago with Hamas’s attack on Israel.
“I ordered (the army) to seize more territory in Gaza … The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel,” Katz said.
Should Hamas not comply, Katz also threatened “to expand buffer zones around Gaza to protect Israeli civilian population areas and soldiers by implementing a permanent Israeli occupation of the area”.
Its resumption of large-scale military operations was co-ordinated with US President Donald Trump’s administration but drew widespread condemnation.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are still held by Gaza militants, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
HAMAS FIRES BACK
Hamas said it fired rockets at Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv in its first military response to the growing civilian death toll from Israel’s resumption of air and ground operations in Gaza.
Israel said it had closed off the territory’s main route as troops expanded ground operations that shattered the ceasefire.
The armed wing of Hamas said it fired rockets at Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv on Thursday in response to what it called “massacres against civilians” in Gaza.
“The (Ezzedine) Al-Qassam Brigades bombarded the city of Tel Aviv deep inside the occupied territories with a barrage of M90 rockets in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians,” it said in a statement. Israel’s army said it intercepted one projectile fired from Gaza, while two others fell in an open area.
Gaza rescuers said at least 10 more people were killed in a pre-dawn bombing near Khan Yunis on Thursday.
The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it fired rockets at Tel Aviv in response to Israel’s “massacres” of Gaza civilians.
The Israeli army said it intercepted one projectile fired from Gaza and that two others struck an uninhabited area.
At the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, grieving families knelt by the bodies of their loved ones enveloped in bloodstained white shrouds.
“We want a ceasefire! We want a ceasefire!” one of them, Mohammed Hussein, told AFPTV, appealing for the international community to stop the killing.
“We are defenceless Palestinian people,” he added.
Palestinians were seen fleeing south along Salaheddin Road near the Nusseirat refugee camp atop donkey-drawn carts piled high with belongings.
‘CRIME THAT MUST BE STOPPED’: IRAN SLAMS US HITS ON YEMEN
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that deadly US strikes on the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen were a “crime that must be stopped”.
The Houthis targeted ships in the Red Sea after the start of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023 and until a January ceasefire, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.
But last week they threatened to renew attacks on Israeli shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Palestinian territory, triggering the first US strikes on Yemen since President Donald Trump took office in January.
“This attack on the people of Yemen, on Yemeni civilians, is … a crime that must be stopped,” Khamenei said in a video published on his website.
The United States said its strikes on Yemen killed several top Houthi officials, while the Houthi-run health ministry said they left dead 53 people and wounded nearly 100.
‘Last warning’: Israel moves ground troops back into Gaza
Israel has renewed ground operations in Gaza, issuing a grim warning over the return of hostages, as an investigation is launched into the death of a UN worker. Follow updates.
‘No mercy’: Israel targets Gaza in deadly strikes as ceasefire ends
Israel’s military has conducted strikes on “terror targets” in Gaza, killing at least 300 people including children, as the ceasefire collapsed over Hamas’ alleged refusal to free more hostages.