Israel closes Ben Gurion Airport, bombs Lebanon in response to Hezbollah rocket fire

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire early on Sunday but held off from igniting a widely feared all-out war as both sides signaled an end to their heaviest exchange of fire in months.

The cross-border attack came as high-level talks resumed in Egypt aimed at reaching a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. War in Gaza This would also ease regional tensions.

Hezbollah claimed to have struck an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv with a barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones, and Israel said its strikes were preemptive to avert a larger attack. Neither provided evidence.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said the attack came in response to Israel assassinates a prominent military leader But last month, the talks in Beirut were postponed to give a chance to the Gaza ceasefire talks, so that Iranian-backed groups could discuss whether to attack Israel all at once. The Israeli and American military deployments also played a role.

“We will now reserve the right to respond later” if the results of Sunday’s attack were not sufficient, Nasrallah said, adding that Yemen’s allied Houthi rebels — and Iran itself — had not yet responded. But he told the Lebanese people: “At this current stage, the country can breathe and relax.”

The Israeli military said its intelligence base near Tel Aviv was not hit.

Israel and Hezbollah said they targeted only military targets. The Israeli military said a navy sailor was killed and two others were wounded, either by an interceptor missile or by shrapnel from a missile. The groups said two Hezbollah fighters and a fighter from an allied group were killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had destroyed thousands of rockets targeting northern Israel and shot down drones heading to the center of the country.

“I repeat, this is not the end of the story,” he added.

Flights diverted due to air raid sirens

Sirens were reported in northern Israel, and Israel’s international airport was closed and flights diverted for about an hour. The Israeli Home Front Command later lifted restrictions in most areas.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Hezbollah intended to hit targets in northern and central Israel but initial assessments found “the damage was very minimal.” He added that about 100 Israeli aircraft took part in the strikes.

Hezbollah said its attack included more than 320 Katyusha rockets targeting multiple sites in Israel and a “large number” of drones.

Some Israelis were shocked. In the northern city of Acre, retired teacher Saadia Even Tzur, 76, said he was in the synagogue when his bedroom was damaged and returned home five minutes later. “I went upstairs and saw the magnitude of the miracle that had happened to me,” he said. A window had been shattered and debris had been scattered on his bed.

Lebanese Economy Minister Amin Salam said after an emergency cabinet meeting that officials were “more optimistic” about de-escalation. “We feel more reassured after both sides confirmed the end of the expected operations,” he added.

President Joe Biden is “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon,” said National Security Council spokesman Sean Savitt. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon said. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. C.Q. Brown, also continued a regional tour that includes Israel, Egypt and Jordan.

It seems that all-out war has been avoided for the time being.

Danny Citrinovitch, an expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said Hezbollah may be trying to “balance the equation without escalating into war.” Each side hopes its narrative will be enough to declare victory and avoid a wider confrontation, he added.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel immediately after the start of the war in Gaza, which erupted in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire almost daily, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.

Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in 2006, is believed to have Much stronger Now, the United States and Israel estimate that Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets, capable of hitting anywhere in Israel. The group has also developed drones that can evade Israeli defenses, as well as precision-guided munitions.

Israel has vowed a crushing response to any major attack by Hezbollah. It has a multi-layered missile defense system and is backed by a U.S.-led coalition that helped it shoot down hundreds of missiles and drones fired from Iran earlier this year. The U.S. military has threatened a large-scale attack on Hezbollah. building its forces Across the region in recent weeks.

Hezbollah is a close ally of Iran, which has He also threatened to respond to Israel. Israel is responsible for the assassination of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Israel has not said whether it was involved.

Iranian state media reported on Sunday that Hezbollah’s attack was successful, but there was no immediate comment from Iranian officials.

The United States and other mediators see a ceasefire in Gaza as key to avoiding a wider war in the Middle East. Hezbollah has said it will halt attacks on Israel if a ceasefire is reached.

Egypt hosted high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at… Bridging the gaps In a proposal for a truce and the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas. The talks include CIA Director William Burns and David Barnea, head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Hamas sent a delegation to receive a briefing from Egyptian and Qatari mediators, but did not participate directly in the negotiations.

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Associated Press reporters Karim Chehayeb in Beirut, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sami Magdy in Cairo, Alexis Tribullard in Acre, Israel, and Amer Madhani in Buellton, California, contributed to this report.