Hezbollah shows support for Hamas during firefight with Israel

An Israeli soldier lies next to artillery shells in an undisclosed location in northern Israel, bordering Lebanon yesterday. Photo: Jalaa Marei/AFP

Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah exchanged fire on Sunday morning, 24 hours after Hamas launched a brutal surprise attack.

Hezbollah fired «a large amount of artillery shells and guided missiles» against Israeli positions in the disputed border area.

The attack was «in solidarity» with the large-scale air, sea and ground attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel on Saturday, the group said.

«The Islamic Resistance (Hezbollah) … attacked three positions of the Zionist enemy on occupied Lebanese Shebaa farms… using large numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles,” the Lebanese Shiite movement said in a statement.

Lebanese residents near the border told AFP that in the morning they heard Israel fired a dozen rockets.

Israeli reconnaissance drones were reported to be flying over the border area.

The Israeli army said earlier on Sunday that it had opened artillery fire on southern Lebanon in response to shots fired from the area.

«Israeli artillery is in the process of striking the area of ​​Lebanon from which the shot was fired,» the army said. This is stated in the statement without going into details.

Yesterday, the Israeli army set up checkpoints near the Lebanese border following Hezbollah attacks. Photo: IMAGO/Fadi Amon/Avalon

Later Sunday morning, “two (more) rockets were fired from the Lebanese side at enemy positions in Shebaa Farms,” prompting Israel to respond with more artillery fire, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported. .

Israel warned Hezbollah against participating in hostilities.

“We recommend that Hezbollah not get involved in this. If they come, we are ready,” army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, called for restraint.< /p>< p>«We are in contact with the authorities of both sides… to contain the situation and avoid a more serious escalation,» the department said in a statement on Sunday.

There are 13 points. disputes along the so-called Blue Line, a border demarcated by the UN in 2000 following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war that killed more than 1200 people. killed in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers. The two countries technically remain at war.

On Saturday, Hezbollah praised Hamas for its “heroic operation” and said its leadership was monitoring developments and “is in direct contact with the Palestinian resistance leadership inside the country.” » and abroad.»