(4 Nov 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rmaish, Lebanon - 04 November 2023
1. Various big plume of smoke from Israeli airstrike on Ayta al Shaab village in southern Lebanon
STORYLINE:
Clashes renewed between Israel and Lebanon on Saturday, a day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah made his first speech since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military said it struck militant sites along various villages in the border where it says that Hezbollah was trying to strike at Israel.
Massive plumes of smoke could been seen coming out the Lebanese village of Aita al Shaab. It is one of the village hardest hit by Israeli shelling.
Nasrallah said Friday that his powerful militia was already engaged in unprecedented fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border and threatened a further escalation as Israel’s war with Hamas neared the one-month mark.
In televised remarks — his first since the Palestinian militants’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel — Nasrallah stopped short of announcing that Hezbollah would fully enter the war, a move that would have devastating consequences for both Lebanon and Israel.
In recent weeks, Hezbollah has fired rockets across the border daily, mainly hitting military targets in northern Israel, but it has a substantial arsenal capable of hitting anywhere in Israel and thousands of battle-hardened fighters.
Facing a relentless aerial bombardment and now a ground incursion by Israeli forces in Gaza, Hamas leaders have been pushing — sometimes publicly — for Hezbollah to widen its involvement in the war.
However, Hezbollah officials have avoided publicly setting a specific red line, saying vaguely that they would join the war if they see that Hamas is on the verge of defeat.
Instead, Hezbollah has taken calculated steps to keep Israel’s military busy on its border with Lebanon, but not to the extent of igniting an all-out war.
AP Video shot by Bassam Hatoum
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