In the Middle East there is again fighting on several fronts. For the first time in months, militants in Lebanon fired rockets on Israel, whereupon Israel’s Air Force bombed dozens of positions of the Hezbollah militia. The Hisbollah denied that the rocket attacks are responsible. The renewed fire in the border area of the two countries took place after the recent start of the new offensive of Israel in Gaza, which made the ceasefire there in fact with the Islamist Hamas. Since then, the Huthi-Miliz in Yemen has been firing again in the direction of Israel.
Mass protests in Israel
According to local media, Israel has been the greatest mass protests against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the evening. Accordingly, more than 100,000 participants accused the government to endanger the liberation of hostages with the rebuilt of the fights in Gaza. The anger is also directed against the dismissal of the domestic secret service manager Ronen Bar, who initially suspended the Supreme Court. Netanyahu said he had lost confidence in cash. However, the opposition suspects other reasons. The intelligence service is investigating allegedly illegal relationships between familiar Netanyahus with Qatar.
Report: USA will send other aircraft carriers
Against the background of the increasing tensions in the region, the United States will send another aircraft carrier to the Middle East, according to the “Wall Street Journal”. The USS Carl Vinson will be moved from its current position in the Asian-Pacific area to the Middle East, where the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is already, the US newspaper quoted an official of the Pentagon in Washington. It is planned that both aircraft carriers will be in use in the region for at least a few weeks, the official continued.
The United States is strengthening its firepower against the Huthi in Yemen. A week ago, the US military began on the command of President Donald Trump with a number of air strikes against the militia allied with Iran. Trump then announced that the attacks on the Huthi would be further reinforced and that the militia would be “completely destroyed”. Trump also said the United States would blame Iran for all Huthi attacks and threatened the Islamic Republic with unadorned consequences.
Israel attacks Hisbollah in Lebanon after rocket fire.
Like Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Hisbollah militia in Lebanon, the Huthi belong to Iran’s self-proclaimed resistance front against the archenemy Israel. After the ceasefire with the Hamas has actually ended with Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, worries are now growing against a new escalation in the Israeli-Libanese border area. The latest shot on both sides of the border shows how brittle is the ceasefire between Israel and the Hisbollah that has been in force since the end of November. The UN mission Unifil spoke of an “extremely fragile situation” and warned of a new escalation of violence.
According to its own statements, the Israeli military had intercept three rockets from the neighboring country. The Hisbollah denied responsibility for this. From Lebanese security circles, on the other hand, it was said that it was the first militia attacks on Israel since the beginning of the ceasefire. According to Lebanese information, Israel’s army attacked several places in southern Lebanon with artillery, tanks and machine guns, fighter jets flew over the area. At least six people were killed, including a girl. The Israeli army said to act against positions of the Hezbollah militia.
Warning of new war
Libanon’s Prime Minister Nauaf Salam warned that Israel could move his country into a “new war”. The United Nations would have to increase the pressure internationally to reach Israel withdrawal from Lebanon. The ceasefire agreement actually provides for a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south of Lebanon. This has now largely been done, but there are still five Israeli military post near the border. The Lebanese leadership evaluates the whereabouts of the troops as a violation of the agreement and protested several times.
