BEIRUT –
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired rockets with heavy warheads at cities in northern Israel, saying it used the weapons against civilian targets for the first time on Thursday in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes the previous night that killed nine, including those who The group said they were several paramedics.
There were no reports of Israelis injured in the rocket attack, local media said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the rocket attack.
Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on October 7, concerns have grown that the almost daily clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border could escalate into a full-scale war. Airstrikes and rocket fire on Wednesday killed 16 Lebanese and one Israeli, making it the deadliest day of the current conflict.
Israel’s top military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Israel had killed 30 Hezbollah militants last week and destroyed dozens of Hezbollah military sites in an effort to drive the Iran-backed group from the border.
The recent increase in violence has raised alarm in Washington and the United Nations.
“Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden and the administration,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters, saying the United States is closely following the events. “We have also been very, very clear: I will not support a war in Lebanon.”
Kirby said the United States is working to stop the fighting through diplomatic efforts. This must be a top priority for Israel and Lebanon, she said, and would allow displaced civilians to return to their homes. Tens of thousands of people on both sides have fled the fighting.
Around dusk on Thursday, a volley of Katyusha and Burkan rockets were fired toward the Israeli village of Goren and Shlomi, according to a Hezbollah statement. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the group had not previously fired Burkan rockets at civilian targets, but was now responding to the recent series of Israeli airstrikes.
Lebanon’s state media reported that 10 paramedics were among the dead on Wednesday. The Israeli military said it had attacked targets of Hezbollah and an allied Sunni Muslim group.
Hezbollah has frequently used Russian-made Kornet man-portable anti-tank missiles in recent months. More rarely, it has launched Burkan rockets that the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, says can carry a warhead weighing between 300 kilograms (660 pounds) and 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds).
Hezbollah says its attacks are aimed at keeping some Israeli divisions occupied and away from Gaza, and Nasrallah says the border attacks will only stop when Israel stops its offensive in Gaza.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL said it was imperative that “this escalation ceases immediately.”
“We urge all parties to lay down their arms and begin the process towards a sustainable political and diplomatic solution,” UNIFIL said. He added that the peacekeeping force remains ready to support that process in any way it can.
Fighting has killed nine civilians and 11 soldiers in Israel. More than 240 Hezbollah fighters and about 50 civilians have been killed in Lebanon.
Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.