Israel launches airstrikes in Lebanon,Gaza Strip
Israel conducted rare airstrikes in Lebanon and continued bombarding the Gaza Strip on Friday, an escalation that sparked fears of a broader conflict following violence over Israeli forces storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and attacking Palestinian worshipers this week, AP reported.
Israeli jets hit sites in Lebanon and Gaza early on Friday, in retaliation for rocket attacks it blamed on Hamas.
Two explosions were heard in Gaza late on Thursday.
AFP reported at least three explosions in southern Lebanon’s Tyre region with at least two shells falling near a Palestinian refugee camp near Tyre city. One missile fell on a farmer’s house near the camp, causing material damage, an AFP correspondent in the area said.
Al-Manar reported that the shelling had targeted three areas in southern Lebanon, including the refugee camp area.
Tensions are remaining high in Al-Quds since Israeli forces attacked worshipers in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound overnight on Wednesday, during the holy month of Ramadan. The raid on the sacred site left at least 12 Palestinians injured.
Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces when the occupation force’s elite troops attacked worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Al-Quds; hundreds were injured and arrested, Press TV reported on Friday.
Dozens of heavily armed Israeli soldiers stormed the compound firing tear gas and stun grenades into the prayer hall where hundreds of men, women, elderly people, and, children, were staying overnight to pray.
Two Israeli settlers killed
Amid heightened tensions across the occupied Palestinian territories, at least two Israeli settlers have been killed and another is seriously wounded after they came under a shooting attack in the northern part of the West Bank.
According to the Israeli ZAKA emergency service and local officials, the women were shot at near the illegal settlement of Hamra in the Jordan Valley on Friday. Two of the three settlers later succumbed to their gunshot wounds.
Meeting in Beirut
Meanwhile, as tensions are simmering across the occupied territories, the secretary-general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement met with a delegation of senior Hamas officials in Beirut.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met with notable decision-makers from the Gaza-based resistance movement, including Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the group, Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas’ political bureau, and top officials Khalil al-Hayya and Osama Hamdan, according to Palestinian media outlets.
During their meeting, Nasrallah and the Hamas officials reviewed the latest political and field developments in Palestine, Lebanon and the Middle East, especially the recent confrontations in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Al-Quds.
Nasrallah issued a warning on Thursday to Israel over the regime’s escalation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
“The resistance front has a high number of long-range missiles in its arsenal; but it is not using them at the moment.
“One of the options that resistance fighters would take in case Zionists commit a folly would be the launch of a significant number of ballistic missiles at sensitive Israeli centers,” Nasrallah said.
The UN, Iran, Turkey and several other countries and bodies have expressed shock and concern about Israeli forces’ incursions into the mosque.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “shocked and appalled” by images of Israeli security forces beating people at the al-Aqsa Mosque, his spokesman said on Wednesday.
Stephane Dujarric said Guterres viewed images of the “violence and beating” within the holy site, and found it more distressing because it came “at a time of a calendar which is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims that should be a time for peace and nonviolence.”
“Places of worship should only be used for peaceful religious observances,” he added.