Hezbollah, Israel clash on border as Lebanon tensions mount

Israel has continued to exchange fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group as fears mount over greater violence following the assassination of a senior Palestinian official near Beirut earlier this week.

An Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in a southern Beirut suburb that killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and others from the Palestinian movement marked a significant escalation in the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel that has persisted since October.

It was seen as a violation of the so-called "rules of engagement" between Hezbollah and Israel, with clashes largely limited to the border region bar some Israeli airstrikes north of the Litani River.

Lebanon has filed a complaint to the UN over the Tuesday night attack that killed Arouri.

Hezbollah has defended its confrontation with Israel as a show of support with Gaza, which has been battered by an Israeli air and ground assault killing around 23,000 people.

In what has become an almost ordinary occurrence since 7 October, Israel targeted border towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Friday, either from the air or with artillery. Hezbollah retaliated by firing several missiles into northern Israel, which are usually intercepted by Israeli air defence systems.

Friday’s clashes came hours before Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was expected to give his second speech of the week.

At least 175 people have been killed in southern Lebanon since 7 October, including 129 Hezbollah fighters and more than 20 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP tally.

Analysis: Israel's assassination could prove to be a miscalculation, but the strategic objectives of all sides are likely to prevail over retaliatory impulses

The killing of Saleh al-Arouri: What to expect next from Hezbollah and Israel ⬇️

✍️ @alibakeerhttps://t.co/RDode5jY7e

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) January 4, 2024

Israel says nine of its soldiers and five civilians have died, but these numbers have yet to be verified.

A local Hezbollah chief was killed Wednesday night along with at least four others in an Israeli airstrike on a building in Naqoura, Lebanon’s farthest southern coastal town only some miles from Israel.

Villages in southern Lebanon including Aytat, Alma al-Shaab and Ayta al-Shaab have witnessed considerable destruction, in a stark reminder of the 2006 war when Hezbollah and Israel last engaged in a major conflict.

Israel has used white phosphorus several times in these clashes in Lebanon, as well as in Gaza. Use of the chemical in densely populated areas is banned under international law.

No breakthrough in sight

The fighting, undoubtedly the worst between Israel and Hezbollah since 2006, has forced tens of thousands of Lebanese from their homes in the south to other regions. Many of the displaced are staying with relatives or sheltering in schools.

Israelis too have left their homes near the border and have demanded the military take swift and decisive action against Hezbollah by forcefully pushing the group away from the frontier so that they can return home.

US energy envoy Amos Hochstein was expected to visit Beirut this week in a bid to defuse tensions between Lebanon and Israel.

But reports on Friday said he returned to the US after visiting Israel, cutting his Middle East trip short and not heading to the Lebanese capital. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to visit Israel as part of a regional tour.

Western diplomats look to UNSCR 1701 to resolve Lebanon-Israel conflicthttps://t.co/bAnH9Ey9t4

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) December 21, 2023

Hochstein played a key role in mediating a historic deal between Lebanon and Israel last year which saw the enemy states demarcate their maritime borders, allowing both to exploit offshore natural resources.

His current mission is to solidify the land border between the two countries, which remains disputed due to Israel’s occupation of some Arab territories including the Shebaa Farms.

Israel has sought to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon in which Hezbollah is not present, something the Lebanese group has outright refused.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will be in Lebanon between Friday and Sunday. He is set to discuss the tense situation at the Lebanon-Israel border and the importance of avoiding regional escalation, the EU said in a statement.

The cost of war

During his Wednesday speech, made just hours after al-Arouri was killed in southern Beirut, Nasrallah warned any future conflict with Israel would "come at a very high cost".

"If the enemy [Israel] considers waging a war against Lebanon, our battle will be boundless, without rules. If war is waged against Lebanon, Lebanon's interest will be to go to war all the way, unrestrained," Nasrallah said.

His highly anticipated speech fell short of announcing an all-out war with Israel, but he said Arouri's assassination was a "crime" that would "not go unpunished".

Hezbollah’s political opponents in Lebanon have accused the group of endangering the country and trying to drag it into conflict with Israel, at a time Lebanon reels under its worst-ever economic meltdown.