Israel and Hizbullah exchange fire but both sides seek to avoid escalation

Exchanges of fire continued along Israel’s northern border on Wednesday but there was no significant escalation as Israel remained on high alert for retaliation from either Hizbullah or Hamas following Tuesday’s assassination of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut.

Cross-border fire between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hizbullah has been taking place for months with both sides being careful not to escalate into all-out war, which could plunge the entire region into a much more dangerous conflagration, potentially dragging in both Iran and the US.

A spokesman for the Unifil peacekeeping force in south Lebanon warned that a wider conflict would have devastating consequences for both Israel and Lebanon and urged both parties to show restraint.

Hizbullah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech on Wednesday night, said the Israeli killing of the Hamas’s deputy chief was “a major, dangerous crime about which we cannot be silent. What has happened since October 7th, and what will happen in the future, has weakened Israel”.

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Last August,the Hizbullah chief proclaimed that “any assassination in Lebanese territory targeting a Palestinian, Lebanese or Iranian will not go quietly”. However, these comments came before the Gaza war and any retaliation now would have implications for both the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and for the domestic Lebanese arena.

Before its leader’s speech, Hizbullah called the Beirut attack a “significant strike” against Lebanon, vowing “it would not go unanswered”.

Besides Hizbullah, Hamas, Iran and Lebanon have all denounced Arouri’s killing. Hamas leader-in-exile Ismail Haniyeh condemned the killing as “a terrorist act” and a breach of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

“The malicious activities of the terror machinery of this [Israeli] regime in other countries are a real threat to peace and security,” Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.

[ Analysis: Hizbullah constrained despite vowing revenge over killing of Hamas deputy leader ]

Hamas’s military wing said the killing of Arouri and two other of the organisation’s senior members in Lebanon would only increase its determination in its struggle against Israel, stressing that the campaign against Israel was “still under way”.

David Barnea, the head of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, warned on Wednesday that anyone who participated in the October 7th attack on Israel was a potential target.

In Gaza, there were reports of Israeli special forces engaging in close-contact fighting in the vast Hamas tunnel network under Gaza’s second largest city, Khan Younis, where it is believed the local Hamas leadership is hiding and is holding some of the 133 hostages believed to be still in captivity.

The Hamas-run health ministry says the number of residents killed in the war has risen to more than 22,300. Some 1,200 people were killed, according to Israel, and 240 kidnapped on October 7th when Hamas gunmen stormed across the border. More than 100 hostages were freed during a break in fighting in November.

The Beirut assassination reportedly prompted Hamas to suspend all contacts with Egyptian and Qatari mediators over another hostage release “until further notice”. However, Israeli officials believe Hamas will soon resume the contacts as this is their only hope to stop the fighting.

[ Saleh al-Arouri: Hamas leader killed in Beirut was organisation’s main link to Iran ]

More than 400,000 cases of infectious diseases have been reported in Gaza since Israel began its operations on October 7th, according to UN spokeswoman, Florencia Soto Niño, with some 180,000 people suffering from upper respiratory infections.

There have also been more than 136,000 cases of diarrhoea reported, half among children under the age of five.

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