Lebanon

Israel said a “new era” of war was beginning Wednesday, tacitly acknowledging its role in shock twin attacks targeting Hezbollah that have pushed the Middle East back to the brink of wider conflict. 

Israel bombed southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had thwarted an Iranian-led assassination plot after explosions in booby-trapped radios and pagers in the past two days caused bloody havoc in the ranks of its arch-foe Hezbollah.

Israel bombed southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had thwarted an Iranian-led assassination plot after explosions in booby-trapped radios and pagers in the past two days caused bloody havoc in the ranks of its arch-foe Hezbollah.

Israel, Hezbollah and other Lebanese groups have exchanged more than 9,613 attacks between October 7 and September 6.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says his military is gradually shifting its attention from Gaza to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, as Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants traded new cross-border attacks on Wednesday.

The urgency of deescalating tensions along the frontier that separates Lebanese and Israeli armed forces, “cannot be overstated”, a senior UN humanitarian official said on Tuesday. Since the start of the military operation by Israel in Gaza in October 2023, in response to the terror attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, nearly 200,000 people have been displaced along the “Blue Line” between southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

The role of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, was today "more important than ever", Under Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told AFP. "It's the only liaison channel between the Israeli side and the Lebanese side in all its components, such as Hezbollah," he said.

The UN voiced deep concern on Friday at the increase in the intensity of exchanges of fire across the Blue Line, which separates Lebanese and Israeli armed forces. The latest escalation, which occurred on Thursday, “heightens the risk of a full-scale war”, the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General said in a note to correspondents.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Thursday it launched more than 200 rockets at Israeli military positions in response to the killing of a senior commander the day before. Israel retaliated with strikes on southern Lebanon as cross-border exchanges continue to fuel fears of a broader regional conflict. 

The UN Secretary-General on Friday voiced profound concern over escalating violence and “bellicose rhetoric” between Israel and Hezbollah militants across the frontier with Lebanon, warning that one false move could trigger a catastrophe for the whole region and beyond.