JERUSALEM: Israel said it was poised to impose quiet on the Lebanese front as hostilities spiked on Sunday, with wounded civilians in a cross-border missile attack and the Israeli air force bombing several sites.
At least 70 of fighters, along with several Lebanese civilians, having been killed in Israeli counter strikes, tactics have expanded to include rockets with 300kg-500kg warheads and kamikaze drones.
On Sunday, Lebanese fighters claimed responsibility for a guided missile attack that Israel said wounded at least two electrical company workers sent to carry out repairs at a border community.
A mortar attack wounded seven Israeli soldiers, the military said. A rocket set off sirens near the Israeli port city of Haifa, 27 km from the Lebanese border, but caused no casualties. A Lebanese wing took credit for the launch.
Israel said its air force and artillery struck targets in Lebanon in response, saying it was holding the group and the Beirut government responsible for all hostilities.
"The IDF (military) is focussed on Gaza but we are at a very high state of readiness in the north," Hagari said.
"The IDF has operational plans for changing the security situation in the north. The security situation will not remain one in which northern residents do not feel secure in returning to their homes," he said in a televised briefing.
Residents of villages and towns on the Lebanese border have evacuated southward even as Gaza border communities hit emptied, making for some 200,000 internally displaced Israelis, according to figures given by government officials. Many southern Lebanese have also fled northward for safety. — Reuters
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