Smoke billows over the southern Lebanese village of Shihine on the border with Israel during an Israeli air strike on January 22, 2024, amid increasing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)
BEIRUT: Hezbollah on Monday rejected Israeli proposals to halt military operations on the southern Lebanese front.
“Whatever the enemy proposes will not change the equation as this is a war of one option,” said Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah.
“Stopping Israel’s aggression on Gaza is what can open the door to other matters and there is no room for anything else.”
The reiteration of Hezbollah’s stance came amid the continuing violence along Lebanon’s southern border and continual Israeli pressure on the movement to agree to a ceasefire.
A previous proposal called for the relocation of Hezbollah’s Radwan forces at least 7 kilometers from the border, to establish a quasi-buffer zone managed by the Lebanese army and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. In exchange, the US would ensure the defining of land borders, similar to the process of demarcating maritime borders. This would take place independently of any developments in Gaza.
US and European diplomats have also been visiting Lebanon in an attempt to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah from escalating into a full-scale war.
Fadlallah said Israel “issues threats and sends messages, in various ways, by targeting civilian structures and homes and trying to impose a balance of displacement between its north and our south, or threatens us with large-scale war.
“However, we are fully prepared for any situation that may arise. We believe that victory is the ultimate result for our country, the resistance, and the people of our nation.”
Fadlallah said he had attended the funeral of Samar Al-Sayyid Mohammed, a civilian who was killed when the car in which she was traveling was passing by the target of an Israeli drone attack in the border town of Bint Jbeil. Her son was injured in the strike, and a Hezbollah member, Fadl Al-Shaar, was killed.
Fadlallah said Hezbollah “will not accept any harm to civilians, regardless of the reason, and will always retaliate against any attacks on civilians in Lebanon.”
Assassinations carried out by the Israeli army “will not weaken the determination of the resistance,” he added.
On Sunday, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted senior Israeli officers as saying military commanders had proposed a 48-hour truce in northern Israel, in coordination with officials in Washington. However, they said if Hezbollah breached the truce, in particular by targeting civilians, there would be a forceful response in southern Lebanon. Such a proposal has yet to be confirmed by Israeli politicians.
On Monday morning, Israeli artillery fire targeted the outskirts of the towns of Maroun Al-Ras, Aitaroun, Yarin, Al-Bustan, and the Marjayoun Plain.
The Israeli army reportedly fired phosphorus shells at the town of Odaisseh, on the outskirts of Kafr Kila, during the funeral of a Hezbollah member, Sameh Assaad. Forces also fired many shells in the vicinity of Taybeh and targeted the outskirts of the town of Hula.
A civilian property, the home of the Yaghi family, in Tayr Harfa was substantially damaged by airstrikes from Israeli warplanes. Raids were also carried out on Taybeh, near a civil defense center, and Marwahin.
Israeli artillery shelled targets in the outskirts of the towns of Hula, Mays Al-Jabal, and Deir Mimas. In addition, a missile was fired by an Israeli drone at a residential property in an agricultural complex on the outskirts of the town of Al-Wazzani but no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it struck “a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of Al-Raheb military site with a direct hit.” The group added that it had targeted the “Israeli force on Sunday night with missiles in the vicinity of the Zarit barracks, which led to confirmed casualties.” The Israeli troops were preparing to carry out operations on Lebanese territory, according to Hezbollah.
The group said one of its members, Ali Saeed Yahya, from Taybeh, had been killed. And Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas in Lebanon, said member Mohammed Bassem Azzam, from the Mieh Mieh Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Sidon, was “martyred during his mission in southern Lebanon.”
ARAB NEWS
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