WEB DESK
Israeli military clashed with the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group on Saturday in the latest skirmishes on the northern frontier, which came amid fears that a second front could open up as Israel wages war on terrorists in the Gaza Strip. According to the Israel Defence Forces, the clashes began on Saturday afternoon after some 30 mortars were launched at military positions in the contested Mount Dov area on the Lebanon border. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had launched mortars and anti-tank guided missiles at the sites. The IDF said it shelled the source of fire with artillery and carried out a drone strike on a terror cell planning to carry out an anti-tank guided missile attack against troops in the area. It later said it also hit a number of Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. Two Lebanese civilians were killed in the shelling of the southern village of Shebaa, its mayor told the reporters. The military did not immediately provide information on potential casualties among IDF troops. The clashes came hours after the IDF said it killed three terrorists attempting to infiltrate into Israel from Lebanon on Saturday morning.
The IDF has bolstered forces in northern Israel amid fears that the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group will open up a second front in the war triggered by last weekend’s unprecedented Hamas assault from the Gaza Strip that killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of them civilians. Israel has retaliated for the unprecedented Hamas assault by striking the terror group’s targets in the Gaza Strip, killing some 2,200 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The IDF also said it killed some 1,500 terrorists inside Israel.
With alert levels high, Hezbollah said on Saturday, it would be “fully prepared” to join its Palestinian ally Hamas in the war against Israel when the time is right. Iran has also issued threats of a wider confrontation.