By Najia Houssari
Israeli warplanes on Wednesday renewed their raids on the town of Umm Al-Tut, near the town of Marwahin in southern Lebanon, hours after similar raids on the town resulted in the deaths of three children from a Syrian refugee family.
The children, who were killed while working on a farm when an Israeli drone struck, were buried in the town of Qasimia in the Tyre region.
According to media reports from the south, “Israeli attacks recently hit new villages that were relatively spared for several months, and their residents had not been displaced.”
Such attacks last week targeted the outskirts of the towns of Deir Mimas, Jdeidet Marjeyoun, Borj El-Mlouk, Qlayaat, Ebel El-Saqi, Rachaya Al-Foukhar, Rmeish and Kawkaba, which are predominantly Christian villages.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech on Wednesday to mark Ashura, said: “The enemy has gone too far in targeting civilians in recent days; two civilian martyrs in Kfarkela, three martyrs, a brother and his two sisters in Bint Jbeil, two Syrian civilian martyrs between Arnoun and Kfar Tebnit, three child martyrs in Umm Al-Tut near the border.
“The resistance responded to this at night with dozens of rockets, approximately 120 rockets, targeting Kiryat Shmona and many other settlements; six or seven settlements at night. Today, I want to tell the enemy that persistence in targeting civilians will prompt the resistance to launch rockets and target new settlements that have not been targeted before,” Nasrallah said.
Alfred Mady, the head of Al-Khayar Al-Akhar, or The Other Choice movement, made a plea to the Maronite authority in Bkerke to “take action to preserve the Christian presence in southern Lebanon.”
A security source suggested that “Israel may be adopting a policy of intimidating civilians in villages that have been spared so far, to push them to flee and thus continue pressuring Hezbollah.”
Nasrallah warnedIsraelof the consequences of any invasion ofLebanon, sayingIsraelwould be left without any tanks if a full-blown conflict erupted.
“Our front will not stop as long as the aggression continues on Gaza, and the threat of war will not scare us.”
He stressed that “in case the aggression stops, the party negotiating on behalf of Lebanon is the Lebanese state, and we informed everyone who contacted us that the party responsible for negotiations and providing answers is the Lebanese state. All rumors about a ready agreement on the situation at the southern borders are incorrect. No agreement has been reached so far. There are drafts, ideas, and proposals. The future of the situation in the south will be decided in light of the results of this battle.”
Nasrallah said: “Whatever support the Lebanese state will provide to our people in the villages of the south, we assure our people whose homes were completely or partially demolished that we will work with you. We will reconstruct our homes, and we will rebuild our front villages as they were and more beautiful than they were.”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib warned of the catastrophic consequences that would arise in the event of any Israeli escalation against Lebanon. He praised the diplomatic efforts of the mediators, emphasizing “Lebanon’s commitment to initiatives and solutions aimed at reducing escalation and enhancing regional security and peace.”
