Tel Aviv and Hezbollah have both vowed to increase their cross-border attacks against each other, with the Lebanese militant group's deputy leader Naim Qassem saying that they "have entered a new phase, namely an open reckoning" with the Jewish state.
In the latest developments, the Lebanese Health Ministry said that at least 100 people were killed and more than 400 injured, including "children, women and paramedics," in what has likely been Israel’s most intensive air strikes on Lebanon since the Gaza conflict began in October 2023.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed to have targeted more than 300 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, destroying “thousands” of the group’s rocket launchers and damaging scores of villages and towns in the area.
Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the attacks will continue "until we achieve our goals," including returning thousands of Israelis to the north, while IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari pledged more "extensive and precise" airstrikes on Lebanon.
Hezbollah, in turn, fired rockets towards northern Israel, where IDF bases and logistics warehouses were hit with "dozens" of missiles, in a tit-for-tat move.
This came after Israel conducted an airstrike on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh in which the IDF killed Ibrahim Aqil, also known as Abdul Khader, the commander of Hezbollah's special operations unit. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 51 people were killed in the strike and more than 60 were wounded.
Last week, at least 37 people were killed and thousands more wounded after pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon, attacks the group blamed on Israel, who denies the accusations.
Earlier in July Israel conducted an airstrike on an apartment building in southern Beirut in which the IDF claimed to have killed Fouad Shukr, a senior military adviser to Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who was in charge of the movement's missile development project. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 100 people, including three children, were killed in the strike.
Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel escalated on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions the day after the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza.