Nasrallah Says to Comment Later on 'Israeli Upheaval, Attacks'
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday opted not to comment extensively on Tuesday’s flare-up on the Lebanese-Israeli border while describing the events as “important and sensitive.”
“Yesterday’s events, the Israeli upheaval, the firing of phosphorus bombs and some attacks are something important and sensitive to us but I deliberately will not comment now,” said Nasrallah in brief remarks about the incidents during a Ashoura religious sermon.
“I will leave talk about it to the appropriate time,” Nasrallah added.
A Hizbullah spokesman on Wednesday declined to comment on the overnight flare-up but a member of the group said no Hizbullah positions were hit by Israel as claimed by its army. The Hizbullah member spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
He said shrapnel hit a structure belonging to Green Without Borders, an environmental NGO that Israel says is an arm of Hizbullah, allegations denied by the Iran-backed armed group.
The Hizbullah member would neither confirm nor deny that an attack had been launched from Lebanon.
The Israeli army said Wednesday morning that attack helicopters had overnight bombed observation posts of Hizbullah along the Lebanon border overnight after shots were fired at Israeli troops operating in the area.
The Israeli military said no Israeli forces were wounded, and there were no reports of casualties in Lebanon. Earlier on Tuesday night, Israeli troops fired flares, smoke shells and incendiary phosphorus bombs along the border. Hizbullah-run al-Manar TV reported that two homes were damaged by the shelling.
The Lebanese Army for its part said that Israel had fired 13 missiles, 117 flares and 100 shells at Lebanon during the flare-up.
“After midnight, helicopters belonging to the Israeli enemy targeted posts belonging to the Green Without Borders environmental NGO with three missiles at the outskirts of the town of Ramya and eight missiles at the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab, in addition to two missiles that were fired from the Tal al-Raheb post at the outskirts of the aforementioned town,” the army said in a statement.
“A post for the aforementioned NGO was also targeted in the Aitaroun national reserve, which sparked a blaze in it,” the army added.
The military also said that Israel had earlier in the night fired 117 flares and around 100 explosive and incendiary shells at the outskirts of the Lebanese towns of Mays al-Jabal, Houla, Maroun al-Ras and Aitaroun, which resulted in several forestfires and damaged a house and a goat farm.
Source: Naharnet
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