(CNN) – On Thursday, the bombing continued along the Lebanese-Israeli border, while Lebanese officials spent the day in meetings with their foreign counterparts from France and Britain about the growing conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Hezbollah claimed that it carried out simultaneous attacks targeting multiple “barracks” in northern Israel.
On the other hand, the Israeli army told CNN that it had monitored nearly 20 launches, on Thursday, targeting Kiryat Shmona, a municipality in northern Israel that had been the target of Hezbollah strikes over the past few days.
The municipality claimed that two anti-tank missiles were fired at the town earlier in the day.
Hezbollah carried out 6 direct missile strikes on Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday.
Diplomatically, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Beirut on Thursday, and also spoke with French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna about an invitation to discuss the escalating clashes in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
Mikati called for exerting “maximum pressure to stop the Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon” during his meeting with Cameron, according to what the Lebanese government published on social media.
“Escalating the conflict in Gaza into Lebanon, the Red Sea, or across the wider region will increase the very high level of danger and insecurity in the world,” Cameron said in a post on the “X” platform.
The fighting is among various incidents involving Iran and its proxies that have raised global fears that the Israeli war in Gaza could expand and turn into a larger regional conflict.
As the threat of further violence between Hezbollah and Israel increases, evidence is emerging of increasing tensions on the ground in Lebanon.
On Thursday, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called on the Lebanese authorities to conduct an investigation after an attack on a patrol, and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said, on the “X” platform, that the attack “was carried out by a group of young men.” In the southern city of Taybeh, it resulted in the injury of a peacekeeper and damage to a vehicle.
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2023-12-29 02:14:37
