IDF shoots down Lebanese missile and responds with attack on Hezbollah

“AThe IDF shot down a surface-to-air missile that was launched from Lebanon against a drone piloted remotely by the IDF”, explained the Israeli army, in a message published on the Telegram platform.

The Israeli army stressed that “the drone was not damaged and fulfilled its mission” and said that “the missile [vindo do Líbano] did not cross Israeli territory”, so “no alert was activated”.

In response to the attack, according to the note, the IDF “attacked the terrorist infrastructure of the Hezbollah organization” with fighter jets. “During the event, a missile interceptor was also launched,” the army added.

Hezbollah promised on Friday that it would comply with the four-day truce agreed between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as long as the Israeli army did not attack southern Lebanon.

“We adhere to the truce declared in Gaza on the condition that Israel does not attack southern Lebanon,” said a spokeswoman for the group, speaking to the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour.

“If that happens, we certainly won’t sit idly by,” the spokesman threatened.

According to information collected by the Lebanese state news agency, the NNA, the entry into force, at 07:00 on Friday (05:00 in Lisbon), of the truce agreed between Israel and Hamas, also brought calm to the area southern Lebanon.

The commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expressed concern about the “intensification of exchanges of fire on the Blue Line” during recent weeks, lamenting that the clashes have caused “too many deaths, significant damage and endangered the subsistence” of the population.

“We ask those responsible for the exchanges of fire on the Blue Line [demarcação da fronteira entre Israel e Líbano estabelecida em 2000 pela ONU] to stop this cycle of violence. Any further escalation in southern Lebanon could have devastating consequences,” Aroldo Lázaro said in a statement.

The Spaniard called on the parties to “reaffirm their commitment to UN Security Council resolution 1701 and the cessation of hostilities, while seeking long-term solutions to address the underlying causes of the conflict.”

The vice-chairman of Hezbollah’s executive council, Sheikh Ali Damush, said on Friday that “the Zionist enemy only accepted the truce until it failed in its attempt to break the resistance, break the will of the people of Gaza and expel them of your land.”

Hezbollah, a group supported by the Iranian authorities, was involved in fighting with the Israeli army following attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7 in Israel.

The situation is raising fears of an expansion of the conflict to Lebanon or the entire region.

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