Live Updates: Israel Declares 48-Hour Emergency After Hezbollah Strikes
Meanwhile Israel – already at war with Hamas in Gaza – warned its citizens that an Iran-backed Hezbollah could launch missiles and drones at them.
Israel on Thursday said it was launching small-scale, ‘pre-emptive’ strikes against Lebanon after warning of findings of ‘significant force’ that showed Iran-backed Hezbollah had energised itself for ‘large-scale’ assaults on its northern neighbour. A nation already at war with Hamas militants in the enclave of Gaza notified citizens to brace for Hezbollah-launched missiles and drones, and called a 48-hour nationwide state of emergency.
On the other side of the border, Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, announced it had fired thousands of rockets and drones at Israel in an ‘initial response’ to the murder a month earlier of its commander Fuad Shukr.
Fighters also fired ‘many tens of rockets’ at ‘a number of enemy positions and barracks and Iron Dome platforms’.
The region has been volatile for months now, ever since Hezbollah and Iran promised retaliation for an Israeli airstrike in Beirut that killed a commander and for the assassination in Tehran of Hamas’s political leader, which Israel is widely believed to have carried out.
Here are Live Updates on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict:
Hamas Says Hezbollah Strikes 'Slap In The Face' For Israel
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Hamas Palestinian Islamist movement praised last week’s strikes by Lebanon’s Hezbollah against Israel as a ‘strong, clear response’.
‘We stress that this firm and accurate response, which hit inside that entity of the Zionists, is a slap in the face to the criminal Israeli government.’ After Hezbollah said the attack had been a major operation carried out with rockets and drones, Hamas issued the following statement: ‘We stress that the firm and accurate response, hitting inside that entity of the Zionist occupation, is a slap in the face to the criminal Israeli government.
At Beirut Airport, Flights Cancelled Amid Hezbollah-Israel Escalation
Beirut airport continued flights but many passengers were stranded as airlines cancelled or postponed flights on Sunday after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced wide-ranging strikes that escalated cross-border violence.
We came 4.30am [0130 GMT] for 8am flight, they said cancelled,’ said Elham Shukair, a passenger to the United States via Jordan.
Also Read:Israel War News
Relaxed on her suitcase in arrivals, she said she’d booked another Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines flight later on Sunday, hoping to make it to Amman in time for her onward journey.
Air France Suspends Tel Aviv, Beirut flights Until Monday
In a statement Sunday, the French carrier Air France revealed that it was from Tel Aviv and Beirut for 24 hours after Israel launched air strikes against Lebanon.
‘Flights today’ an airline spokes it could go beyond that East.’