100 Israeli jets target Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon amid war risk | 10 points

Around 100 Israeli war jets struck Hezbollah's premises in southern Lebanon on Sunday, destroying thousands of the militant outfit's rocket launcher barrels. Tel Aviv described the strike as pre-emptive, saying the attack was aimed at thwarting a planned Hezbollah offensive in the north of Israel. The Iran-backed group claimed it fired 320 rockets and drones at Israel's 11 military installations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was determined to do everything possible to defend the country. "Whoever harms us, we harm him," he warned.

Sunday's hostilities exacerbated an already delicate situation in the restive Middle East, which is reeling under the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Also read: Hezbollah says 'fired 320 Katyusha rockets at Israel'; Tel Aviv launches air strikes in southern Lebanon

Here are 10 points on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict:

1. According to the Israeli government, its air strikes hit 40 launch areas. "We are determined to do everything possible to defend our country, to return the residents of the north safely to their homes and to continue to uphold a simple rule: Whoever harms us – we harm him," said Netanyahu.
2. Hezbollah said it launched drone and rocket strikes to avenge the killing of one of the top commanders last month. The renewed hostilities threatens regional peace and an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel. It can potentially draw Iran into the conflict as well, which is nursing its wounds since some overtly aggressive actions against it by Israel, including killings of its operatives and a strike on its embassy in Syria earlier this year.
3. The skirmish can also torpedo efforts to forge a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian group Hamas for over 10 months.
4. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies against Israel. Hezbollah has said it would cease fighting if a ceasefire is agreed upon by Israel and Hamas.
5. Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israeli military positions as an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, one of its founders, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.
6. Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport diverted incoming flights and delayed takeoffs for a time. Israel's Airports Authority said flights resumed at 7 am local time.
7. In the US, a spokesman for the National Security Council, Sean Savett, said President Joe Biden was "closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon. He said the country will keep supporting Israel's right to defend itself.
8. Last week, the Israeli government said it was moving troops toward the Lebanese border. Today, the Israeli ministry said it was preparing to launch an extensive attack in southern Lebanon. "We can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel while endangering the Lebanese civilians. We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm's way immediately for their safety,” the military said.
9. Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in the summer of 2006, is believed to be far more powerful than it was during that conflict. The United States and Israel estimate it has some 150,000 rockets and is capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel.
10. Hezbollah is a close ally of Iran, which has also threatened to retaliate for the killing of a senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an explosion in Tehran last month that was widely blamed on Israel.

With inputs from AFP, AP, Reuters, ANI

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