(PatriotWise.com) — While Israel launched strikes on Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the south, United Nations peacekeepers said on Sunday that several rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli-occupied territory in the north, and Israeli artillery responded, the Washington Times reported.
Officials with the UN Interim Force said they were in contact with officials from both sides to “contain the situation and avoid a more serious escalation.” The UNIF called on both sides to “exercise restraint” and work with the Interim Force in Lebanon to de-escalate to avoid a “fast deterioration of the security situation.”
According to the Foundation for Defense Democracies, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah keeps around 150,000 rockets in southern Lebanon, concealed within civilian buildings, along with precision-guided missiles designed to change course in flight.
Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense Democracies, said Iran’s deliberate, long-term strategy is to surround Israel “with a ring of fire on multiple fronts,” including along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. He said a threat from Hezbollah in the north forces the Israel Defense Forces to allocate some of its limited resources to the northern border, the West Bank, and Syria.
Dubowitz said that in the coming days, it will become clear if Iran is prepared to activate Hezbollah against Israel or if it will save its firepower for a possible retaliatory strike on the Iranian regime’s nuclear facilities and assets.
According to the Foundation for Defense Democracies, Hezbollah receives about $700 million a year from Tehran, significantly more than Iran’s Palestinian terror proxies, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Times of Israel reported that in a press conference on Monday, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safi al-Din, sent a message to Israel and the US, saying their violations of Islamic holy sites and “crossing of all lines” are what have led to Hamas’ attack on Israel this weekend.
He vowed that the Islamic world would join in the “deluge” if the US and Israel continued with their “foolishness.”
The Times of Israel confirmed that Hezbollah did launch a mortar attack on Israeli military sites on the northern border on Sunday morning in what the group said was showing solidarity with the “Palestinian resistance.”
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