Israel pounded southern Lebanon with artillery in response to a suspected "terrorist infiltration" that was later denied by the Israeli army. Shortly thereafter, Hezbollah claimed to have attacked Israeli targets at four sites. A group of journalists found themselves in the middle of the crossfire and in that hell, Issam Abdallah, a Lebanese photojournalist working for Reuters, was killed, while 5 other journalists - two of whom worked for al Jazeera, one for AFP and two others for Reuters - were injured, one seriously. They were near Alma Shaab, a town in the central sector of the Blue Line demarcation between the two countries and were hit "by fire from an Israeli tank," he told Al Jazeera as a shocking video of those moments circulated on Lebanese and Pan-Arab social media and TV. We see the battered and semi-charred body of Abdallah and, a few meters away, her colleague Carmen Joukhadar screams, lying on the ground: "I don't see my legs anymore! I can't see my legs anymore!"
The situation on both sides of the Blue Line separating Lebanon from Israel is becoming increasingly incandescent. The Israeli military said there was actually no infiltration, but added that "a shooting has been identified against a number of military posts on the Lebanese border. IDF soldiers responded with tank fire to Hezbollah's terrorist infrastructure." In turn, Hezbollah said that "in response to Israeli attacks," its mujahideen attacked four Israeli sites "with direct and appropriate weapons, and caused casualties." Just hours earlier, Hezbollah said it was "fully prepared" to intervene to help the Palestinians, and it will do so according to its "plan and in due course." This was solemnly affirmed, in what seems more like a promise than a threat, by the number two of the powerful pro-Iranian Party of God, Sheikh Naim Qassm, before the crowd demonstrating support for the Palestinian people in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Qassem's proclamation follows significantly following yesterday's meeting between Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah and Tehran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. After the face-to-face, Hezbollah's media outlet, al Manar, reported "a consultation was held on the responsibilities of each and on the positions to be taken with respect to these historical events". And while more and more people are wondering whether Hezbollah - whose military apparatus is much more powerful than that of Hamas - will also enter the war, Iranian Minister Amir-Abdollahian, after meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, said that "Lebanon's security and peace are important to us". However, he did not rule out that Lebanon could also be dragged into the conflict: "If the systemic war crimes of the Zionist regime do not cease immediately, every possibility is conceivable," he said. Also in recent days in southern Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel there have been several exchanges of rockets and mortars, with the death of three guerrillas and three Israeli soldiers. The inhabitants of the area are now preparing for an esclation, abandoning their homes to go further north. In Nabatiye, one of the villages close to the Blue Line, there was also a demonstration with hundreds of people chanting slogans such as "Death to Israel".
All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA