Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed 10 civilians, including women and children, marking the deadliest day in months of border clashes. Hezbollah vowed retaliation after strikes hit Nabatiyeh and Souaneh, triggered by Lebanon-fired projectiles that killed an Israeli soldier. The strikes destroyed part of a building in Nabatiyeh, killing seven from a single family. Hezbollah fighters were also killed. The violence escalated from ongoing exchanges since the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Lebanese institutions closed in protest.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel said it was poised to impose quiet on the Lebanese front as hostilities spiked on Sunday, with Hezbollah wounding civilians in a cross-border missile attack and the Israeli air force bombing sites linked to the Iranian-backed group. The chief Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, described Hezbollah as "the defender of Hamas-ISIS", in reference to the Islamist Palestinian faction whose cross-border rampage against Israel on Oct. 7 sparked a devastating Gaza war. Hezbollah, whose rocket arsenal is widely believed to dwarf that of Hamas, has been carrying out relatively limited attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Divided by language, religion and a fortified fence, residents on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border are facing upheaval as growing violence forces tens of thousands of civilians to abandon their homes and seek sanctuary elsewhere. The borderlands have seen constant, but so far limited, clashes, between the Israeli military and fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah since a war erupted two weeks ago around Gaza, a strip of land in Israel's south which is controlled by Hamas. Israel on Friday ordered the evacuation of more than 20,000 residents from Kiryat Shmona, one of the biggest towns on its northern border following a heavy cross-border exchange of fire in the area the day before.