Israel attacks southern Lebanon, Hezbollah returns fire as ceasefire talks go on

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Israeli forces exchanged heavy cross-border fire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. It’s a significant escalation and is stoking fears of a wider war in the region. Israel says it struck key Hezbollah targets. Hezbollah says it responded by firing hundreds of rockets into Israel. Lebanon’s Health Ministry says at least three people have been killed. Israel has so far reported no casualties. We’re joined now by NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi, who’s in the city of Haifa in northern Israel. Good morning, Hadeel.

HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.

RASCOE: So tell us more about what’s been happening there.

AL-SHALCHI: Right, so today we woke up to news of this heavy predawn barrage of fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel says its strike was preemptive. It says it received intelligence that Hezbollah was about to launch its own attack. Hezbollah denied they were planning anything, but then responded with its own rockets and drones into Israel. Both sides claim they only targeted military assets with minimal damage done. Flights were – to Israel were diverted for an hour. The Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv was closed briefly. Sirens were heard across north of Israel. And then the military also raised its alert level there, telling people to stay near bomb shelters.

Regional leaders have called for calm and containment of the escalation. President Biden says he’s been briefed. And the U.S. Secretary of Defense reiterated the U.S.’s ironclad commitment to Israel’s security. And, you know, there was really a scramble this morning with fears that a war may have started. But then Hezbollah by late morning actually announced its operations were done for the day.

RASCOE: Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire ever since the war in Gaza began last October. So why this escalation right now?

AL-SHALCHI: So, yeah, the region has been bracing itself for a potential all-out war between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran after Israel killed a top Hezbollah leader in Beirut, Fuad Shukr, and Hamas’ leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Hezbollah said that today’s attacks was the first stage of those punitive strikes. But then Iran, on the other hand, has been actually pretty restrained. It says it will retaliate, but has kept everyone guessing when that would be. And now, Iran is saying that its response will hinge on how the cease-fire talks will go in – this weekend.

RASCOE: Those talks are supposed to get underway today in Cairo. What’s going on with them?

AL-SHALCHI: Yeah. So we – so far, we know that Israel, Hamas and mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. have all sent delegations to meet in Cairo. But it’s still unclear, actually, if Hamas will, in fact, participate in the talks. The meeting follows one that wrapped up last week. That’s when the U.S. said a proposal that tried to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas was presented. Now, we don’t know exact details of the proposal, but we do know that one major sticking point is the presence of Israeli troops in Gaza. Hamas wants a complete withdrawal, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is adamantly against that. We’ll be keeping an eye out on those meetings, and we’ll let you know.

RASCOE: That’s NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi. Thank you so much for joining us.

AL-SHALCHI: You’re welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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