Beirut: Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut, Sidon and other parts of Lebanon on Monday.
The planes carried out mock attacks on the Hasbaya area and the occupied Sheba farms, reaching the Bekaa.
Although hostilities on the southern front have decreased significantly, sporadic strikes continue.
An Israeli airstrike targeted a house in the town of Chihain in Tire District.
were wounded in the raid, and the Syrian Socialist Party said one of its members was killed.
Meanwhile, a unit of the Lebanese army found the wreckage of a drone in the city of Aiha in Rasaya district. The army command did not clarify the nature of the drone or whether it was Israeli-made or from another source.
Israel attacked a Lebanese army watchtower on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Alma al-Shaab on Sunday night, resulting in “minor injuries to two soldiers, who were taken to hospital for treatment,” according to the army.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah targeted the Israeli military site al-Malikiyah with attack drones, hitting one of its bunkers.
Developments in the south and the issue of renewing UNIFIL's mandate on the UN Security Council agenda have become the focus of domestic political attention.
Acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati told a meeting with key officials that the recent developments “naturally warrant caution, but we continue discussions with relevant parties and engage in the necessary diplomatic contacts to prevent matters from escalating into undesirable consequences.”
He added: “We cannot say that there are assurances and guarantees, because no one can guarantee the intentions of the Israeli enemy. However, we continue our diligent efforts to address the situation.”
Regarding the renewal of the mandate of the international forces active in the south of Lebanon, Mikati said: “We continue diplomatic contacts to ensure the peaceful expansion of the mandate of UNIFIL, whose essential role we highly appreciate in the south, as well as with fruitful cooperation. They and the army.
“From the contacts we have made, we feel eager to maintain this role, especially in the critical conditions the South is going through.”
Speaking after the meeting with Mikati, Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib informed the prime minister that “there is a quasi-agreement to renew the work of the UNIFIL force for one year under the same conditions and without any modifications.”
Bo Habib, who briefed Mikati on his return from New York, also stressed the importance of American and European officials he met with “not escalating the war and working to avoid escalating military operations in the south.”
He added: “There is a kind of optimism, or less pessimism, about the outbreak of a widespread war in Lebanon.”
Also on Monday, a group of opposition lawmakers submitted a petition to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri requesting a session to discuss the outcome of the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, now in its 10th month.
Opposition MPs – Georges Okais, Mark Dow, Ashraf Rifi, and Salim Sayegh – demanded that Berri “convene a parliamentary session as soon as possible to discuss the ongoing war, stop its escalation and ensure that the government fulfills its constitutional duties”.
In their petition, the parliamentarians called for a return to the 1949 Armistice Agreement and diplomatic efforts for the full implementation of UN Resolution 1701.
They emphasized the need to “end military operations outside the framework of the Lebanese state and its institutions, declare a state of emergency in the south, hand over control to the army, and allow it to respond to any attack on Lebanese territory.” .”
They noted that “escalations and threats have reached their highest level since October 8, and the growing fear of an escalation of the ongoing war, which has so far cost us hundreds of Lebanese lives and destroyed thousands of residential units. The economic and environmental damage caused by daily Israeli attacks, and the impact In light of the prevailing political and economic crisis in the country and the obstruction in electing a president for the country.
Nabil Kauk, a member of Hezbollah's central council, said Israel was putting the region on a “higher path.”
He said that “the support fronts in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen have entered a new phase, introducing new regional equations through which we hope to increase the pressure on the Israeli enemy to stop the attack on the Gaza Strip.”
