Hizbullah Fires Rockets at Shebaa Farms, Israel Responds but Says Doesn't Want War

Hizbullah said it fired "dozens" of rockets Friday at open areas of the occupied Shebaa Farms district, drawing retaliatory Israeli strikes for a second straight day.

It is the first time that Hizbullah has directly claimed an attack on Israel since 2019, as tensions boil along the border following a week of tit-for-tat exchanges.

The latest round of rocket fire on Friday morning came "in response to the Israeli air raids" that hit south Lebanon on Thursday, Hizbullah said in a statement. 

"The Islamic Resistance shelled open territory near positions of Israeli occupation forces in the Shebaa Farms with dozens of rockets," it said.

An AFP correspondent in south Lebanon said he heard several explosions and saw smoke rising from the Shebaa Farms.

The Israeli military said it was "currently striking the launch sources in Lebanon."

An Israeli army spokesman said Hizbullah fired 19 rockets of which three fell inside Lebanon, 10 were intercepted and six landed in open Israeli-controlled territory without causing casualties or damage.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett meanwhile swiftly convened a meeting with the country's top defense officials to discuss the situation.

The Israeli army later said it was ready for an "escalation" on the Lebanese border but played down the prospects of all-out war.

"We believe that neither Hizbullah wants a full-out war, and we definitely do not wish to have a war," an Israeli army spokesman, Amnon Shefler, told journalists.

"We do not wish to escalate to a full war, yet of course we are very prepared for that and we will not allow these acts of terror to continue and we will do what is needed," he added.

He said life continued as normal on the Israeli side of the border.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem meanwhile said the group was committed to responding to any attack on Lebanon.

But "we do not believe things are headed towards an escalation, though Hizbullah is prepared" if needed, he added.

On Thursday, Israel carried out air strikes on Lebanon for the first time in seven years in response to a previous salvo of cross-border rocket fire.

Israel has warned repeatedly that it will not allow a power vacuum and a deepening economic crisis in Lebanon to undermine security on its northern border.

The Israeli military said at the time that it "views the state of Lebanon as responsible for all actions originating in its territory, and warns against further attempts to harm Israeli civilians and Israel's sovereignty."

The Shebaa Farms district is claimed by Lebanon and Hizbullah, but the United Nations, which has maintained a peacekeeping force in south Lebanon since 1978, regards it as part of the Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981.

The U.N. peacekeeping force patrolling the Lebanon-Israel border, UNIFIL, warned Friday of a "very dangerous situation."

"This is a very dangerous situation, with escalatory actions seen on both sides over the past two days," it said, adding that it was working to "prevent the situation from spiraling out of control."

Hizbullah, which in recent years has been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the neighboring country's civil war, named Friday's operation after two of its fighters who were killed by Israeli fire.

Ali Mohsen was killed in July last year in an Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital Damascus. Mohammed Tahhan was shot dead by Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israel border in May during a protest in support of Gaza during this year's Israel-Hamas war.

Friday's exchanges were a significant escalation between Israel's new government and Iran-backed Hizbullah, and comes amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran that has played out in the Persian Gulf.

Israel's defense minister warned Thursday that his country is prepared to strike Iran, issuing the threat against the Islamic Republic after a fatal drone strike on a oil tanker at sea that his country blamed on Tehran.

The escalation comes at a sensitive time in Lebanon, which is mired in multiple crises including a devastating economic and financial meltdown and political deadlock that has left the country without a functional government for a full year.

Hizbullah's response, rocketing open fields in a disputed area rather than Israel proper, appeared calibrated to limit any response.

It is also a politically sensitive time in Israel. Israel’s new eight-party governing coalition is trying to keep peace under a fragile cease-fire that ended an 11-day war with Hamas’ militant rulers in Gaza in May.

Israel has long considered Hizbullah its most serious and immediate military threat. It estimates the group possesses over 130,000 rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel. In recent years, it also has expressed concerns that the group is trying to import or develop an arsenal of precision-guided missiles.