JERUSALEM: Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced a 48-hour nationwide state of emergency from Sunday morning, after the Israeli military launched what it called pre-emptive strikes in Lebanon .

Israel’s military said it struck Lebanon with around 100 jets to thwart a bigger attack, and Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel early on Sunday.

“The declaration on the state of emergency enables the IDF (Israeli military) to issue instructions to the citizens of Israel, including limiting gatherings and closing sites where it may be relevant,” Gallant said in a statement issued by his office.

“I hereby declare a special situation on the home front in other areas of the country. The situation is valid for 48 hours starting at 6:00 am.”

Missiles fired by Hezbollah were visible curling up through the dawn sky, dark vapour trails behind them, as an air raid siren sounded in Israel and a distant blast lit the horizon, while smoke rose over houses in Khiam in southern Lebanon.

Three deaths were confirmed in Lebanon and none in Israel, where damage appeared to be limited.

In northern Israel, warning sirens sounded, and multiple explosions were heard around several areas as Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defence system shot down rockets coming from southern Lebanon. One navy soldier was killed and two wounded during combat in northern Israel on Sunday, the Israeli military said.

It gave no details of the circumstances of the soldier’s death, but Israeli media reported it occurred on a naval vessel offshore as an interceptor from Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defence system engaged a drone fired by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah indicated it was not planning further strikes yet. Israel’s foreign minister said the country did not seek a full-scale war.

The Lebanese group said it had fired 320 Katyusha rockets towards Israel and hit 11 military targets in what it called the first phase of its retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Fuad Shukr, a senior commander, last month.

Israel’s military said it had foiled a much larger attack with pre-emptive airstrikes after assessing that Hezbollah was preparing to launch the barrage, using 100 jets to strike more than 40 Hezbollah launch sites in southern Lebanon.

The strikes destroyed thousands of launcher barrels, aimed mostly at northern Israel but also targeting some central areas, Israel’s military said.

Hezbollah dismissed Israel’s statement that the group’s attack had been foiled with pre-emptive strikes, saying it had been able to launch its drones as planned and that the rest of its response to Shukr’s killing would take “some time”.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the attack targeted a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv, around 100 kilometres from the Israel-Lebanon border.

The “main target for the operation” inside Israel was “the Glilot base — the main Israeli military intelligence base”, Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

“We will assess the impact of today’s operation, if results are not seen to be enough, we will respond another time.”

The Israeli army said Hezbollah failed to strike a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv that the Lebanese armed group’s leader said was the target of a rocket and drone barrage on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military denied the statement, saying “there were no hits at the Glilot base”.

Sisi warns against Lebanon risk

Sunday’s strikes came as negotiators were meeting in Cairo in a last-ditch effort to conclude a halt to the fighting in Gaza.

Egypt, one of the mediators in Gaza ceasefire talks, warned against the dangers of a new war front opening in Lebanon.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned US Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, of the dangers of a major conflict in Lebanon.

In a statement on Sunday, Sisi’s office said the Egyptian leader told Brown that the international community needed to “exert all efforts and intensify pressures to defuse tension and stop the state of escalation that threatens the security and stability of the entire region.”

“(Sisi warned) in this regard of the dangers of opening a new front in Lebanon, and stressing the need to preserve Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty,” the statement read.

President Joe Biden was following events closely, the White House said.

“At his direction, senior US officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts. We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability,” National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said. The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon and the UN’s special coordinator’s office in the country called on all sides to cease fire, calling the developments “worrying”.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2024