• Meanwhile, amid threats of a wider war on Lebanon, Israeli news sites released a video clip they said the organization had sent to residents of settlements in northern Israel
• It was reported that several people received messages on WhatsApp and Telegram from unknown numbers claiming to be from Hezbollah

Najia Houssari

BEIRUT: Hezbollah said it launched an aerial assault on the Israeli Metula site in retaliation for “the attacks on villages and homes in southern Lebanon by the Israeli enemy.”

Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Wednesday that a Hezbollah drone crashed close to a military base in Metula, but added nobody was hurt.

The situation in southern Lebanon is escalating as the US works for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Najib Mikati, the Lebanese premier, said during a televised interview a response to American envoy Amos Hochstein’s proposal would be sent within 48 hours.

Meanwhile, amid threats of a wider war on Lebanon, Israeli news sites released a video clip they said the organization had sent to residents of settlements in northern Israel.

It was reported that several people received messages on WhatsApp and Telegram from unknown numbers claiming to be from Hezbollah. The messages featured a propaganda video showing rockets falling, fires and threats. Recipients included the heads of local authorities.

The messages are alleged to have said: “We have aimed our missiles at you. You have until the end of the week. You won’t make it. It’s recommended to escape to the southern cities.”

Safed was mentioned as a potential target for Hezbollah missile strikes, according to news reports.

On Tuesday night, Hezbollah used Katyusha rockets to bomb buildings in the Kiryat Shmona and Kfar Blum settlements. Kfar Blum is more than 5 km from the Lebanese border and not part of Israel’s settlement evacuation. The Avivim settlement in the Upper Galilee was attacked on Wednesday morning.

Around 70 missiles targeted the Kiryat Shmona settlement. Hezbollah said this was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on a civilian house in the Lebanese border town of Hula which resulted in the deaths of Hassan Hussein, his wife Ruwayda Mustafa, and their son Ali Hassan Hussein.

A report released by Hezbollah, detailing its activities on the southern front over the past 150 days, said 1,194 military operations had targeted 107 settlements, 841 border sites, 74 rear sites and 134 border points. In addition, 38 drones and aircraft destroyed 570 settlement units, killing or injuring 2,000 people.

The Council of Maronite Bishops, in a statement on the developments, affirmed their “categorical refusal to involve Lebanon in the Palestinian-Israeli war, from whose flames all Arab countries have distanced themselves.”

They called on “concerned local parties to help our people suffering in the south, regardless of their religious and political affiliations.”

The bishops cautioned “the consequences of linking the southern border dispute with settlements that affect Lebanon’s sovereignty, its oil and water resources, and its geographical rights.”

They also stressed that “any Lebanese negotiation in these issues should be handled by Lebanon’s president and should be put on hold until the election takes place.”