Escalation Along Lebanon-Israel Border Precedes Hezbollah Leader’s Address

Hezbollah of Lebanon struck 19 Israeli positions along the border at the same time, which led to an attack in return from Israel. This happened a day before Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s leader, was supposed to give a speech.

Along the border, the armed group backed by Iran said it attacked at the same time on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. (13:30 GMT) with “guided missiles, artillery shelling,” and other weapons.

The Israeli military said it attacked the group in a “broad assault” that included “hits with artillery and tank fire” and “attacks with warplanes and helicopters” in response to fire from Lebanon earlier today.

Two people were hurt by more rockets in the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, which is close to the border with Lebanon, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service.

The armed wing of Hamas in Lebanon said it fired 12 rockets at the town “in response to the occupation massacres against our people in Gaza.”

Since the war began, there have been more and more tense exchanges along the border between Israel and Lebanon. These have mostly been between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas. Since then, more than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly in the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.

Highly anticipated speech

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will talk on Friday. It will be the first time he has done so since the war began.

A lot of people in Lebanon have been scared for weeks about a terrible war, so they are eagerly waiting for the speech. Some people have said they aren’t making plans after Friday because they think his comments will make things more likely to get worse.

People outside of Lebanon will also be very interested in the speech because Nasrallah is a key figure in the “Axis of Resistance,” an informal grouping led by Iran to fight the US and Israel.

The coalition is made up of Shia Muslim militias in Iraq that have been firing at US forces in Syria and Iraq, as well as the Houthis in Yemen, who have joined the war by firing drones at Israel.

The speech will be shown at the same time that Hezbollah has called rallies to remember their fallen warriors.

No indication Hebzollah is ready to go in ‘full force’

France’s Sebastien Lecornu, who is the defense minister, said that Lebanon “doesn’t need a war” with Israel while he was visiting his country’s UNIFIL troops on Thursday.

It “could have major escalatory effects on the whole region,” he said.

Attacks by Hezbollah on Israeli forces worry the White House. But at a meeting on Thursday, national security spokesperson John Kirby said he didn’t think there was “specific evidence yet that Hezbollah is ready to go in full force.”

Hezbollah said earlier Thursday that it had shot down an Israeli drone with a surface-to-air missile. This was the second time in days that the group made such a claim.

Also on Thursday, the bodies of two shepherds killed by Israeli fire were brought back to Lebanon by the army, according to state media. This brings the total number of deaths in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began to 66, according to an AFP count.

Most of the people killed on the Lebanese side were Hezbollah soldiers, but seven were civilians, and one of them was a reporter.

The Israeli army says nine people have died, eight troops and one civilian.