Israel-Lebanon border fire stokes fears of wider war

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Israel’s northern border with Lebanon is often tense, the legacy of past conflicts. But as Israel readies to invade Gaza, its army faces the threat of a two-front war.

Repeated fire in recent days has claimed lives on both sides of the UN-patrolled border between Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically at war.

If Israel does invade the Palestinian enclave of Gaza in its war on Hamas, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement has warned it may escalate its military involvement.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday that “we have no interest in a war in the north, we don’t want to escalate the situation”.

He urged Hezbollah to show restraint while also warning the group that, if it “chooses the path of war, it will pay a very heavy price”.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told a pro-Palestinian rally on Friday that it was “fully prepared and, when the time comes for action, we will take it”.

The Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement, Lebanon’s only armed faction that did not disarm after the 1975-1990 civil war, last fought a major conflict with Israel in 2006.

That war left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers, in a conflict that left deep scars and the border bristling with guns.

As tensions have again risen sharply, UNIFIL, the buffer between Israel and Lebanon since 1978, has warned that the situation could get “out of control”.

Late Sunday the UN peacekeeping mission said “our headquarters in Naqoura was hit with a rocket and we are working to verify from where. Our peacekeepers were not in shelters at the time.

“Fortunately, no one was hurt.”

Over the years, cross-border strikes and incursions have been frequent but carefully calibrated, with both sides at pains to project strength but avoid escalation.

This has threatened to change since October 7 when Gaza’s Hamas movement staged its unprecedented attack on Israel in which its gunmen shot, stabbed and mutilated 1,400 in Israel.

A grieving and enraged Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and responded with a devastating bombing campaign on Gaza that has killed more than 2,670, stoking fury across the Arab world.

Tit-for-tat