On Wednesday 10/16, Hezbollah spoke of “fierce” “hand-to-hand” battles with the Israeli army on the outskirts of a village near the border between Israel and Lebanon, where the pro-Iranian movement and Israel are already in open war.
In a statement, the Shiite organization adds that these battles “with various types of automatic weapons” continue.
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah said it fired a “guided” missile at an Israeli tank in the same area.
It is recalled that Hezbollah managed on Sunday 13/10 to fool Israel’s state-of-the-art tracking systems and achieve a precision strike in a drone attack, revealing the vulnerabilities of the Israeli air defense.
Specifically, it managed to “pierce” Israel’s much-vaunted air defenses and hit a military installation at a location 40 miles south of the Lebanese border, killing 4 Israeli soldiers and injuring 58.
Request by 16 countries to stop attacks on blue-collar workers
The 16 European Union countries participating in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) believe that the rules of engagement should be made more effective, Italy’s defense ministry said in a statement.
European countries also believe that pressure should be applied to prevent further attacks on blue-collar positions by Israeli forces, according to Rome. The statement noted that a key element that emerged from the 16-nation summit on the issue was “their common will to exert maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Israel so that no further incidents occur.”
Italy also added that “Hezbollah cannot use UNIFIL personnel as shields” in this conflict with Israel.
The French Ministry of Defense, for its part, assured that the 16 countries “will remain committed” to UNIFIL, which “plays a key role within the mandate given to it by the United Nations Security Council, as an impartial observer force.”
The video conference was organized at the initiative of the defense ministers of Italy and France, Guido Crosetto and Sebastien Lecorni, after five Indonesian and Sri Lankan peacekeepers were injured in Israeli army operations in southern Lebanon. The ministers or their representatives from the European countries participating in UNIFIL participated: Italy (1,068 soldiers, according to the UN), Spain (676 soldiers), France (673), Ireland (370), Germany, Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia , Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland.
According to France’s defense ministry, the ministers expressed their deep concern over the recent escalation along the Blue Line and condemned “acts of intimidation, threats and attacks” against the blue-collar workers. “We will not tolerate UN soldiers being targeted or instrumentalized in a conflict that must stop now,” the ministry stressed, calling for the “strict” implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. This resolution stipulates that only the Lebanese army and the Blue Helmets can deploy forces in southern Lebanon.
Paris also stressed that Lebanon’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty must also be “restored and respected.”
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