Hezbollah and Israel exchange fire and warnings of a widened war
Hezbollah announced the deaths of five more militants as clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border intensified and the Israeli prime minister warned Lebanon on Sunday not to let itself get dragged into a new war. The tiny Mediterranean country is home to Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim political party with an armed wing of the same name. Israeli soldiers and militants have traded fire across the border since Israel's war with the Palestinian group Hamas began, but the launches so far have targeted limited areas.
Hezbollah has reported the deaths of 24 of its militants since Hamas' bloody October 7 rampage in southern Israel.
At least six militants from Hamas and another militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and at least four civilians have died in the near-daily hostilities.
Hezbollah has vowed to escalate if Israel begins a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, which is likely, and Israel said it would aggressively retaliate.
«If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will miss the Second Lebanon War. It will make the mistake of its life,» Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday as he visited troops stationed near the border with Lebanon.
«We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state are devastating.»
Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a tense stalemate.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that small arms fire was heard along the tense border coming from near the Lebanese village of Aitaroun toward the northern Israeli town of Avivim where key military barracks are located.
Meanwhile, Israel shelled areas near the southeastern Lebanese town of Blida.
Israel sees Iran-backed Hezbollah as its
