Hezbollah says it fired volley of rockets into Israel; Blinken returns to seek ceasefire

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM - Hezbollah said it fired rockets at two bases near the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and a naval base west of Haifa on the morning of Oct 22, just hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel to make another push for a ceasefire.

Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to help end the year-long war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza and its spillover conflict between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel, which has intensified in recent weeks after a year of exchanges of fire mostly across Lebanon’s southern border.

Shortly after Mr Blinken landed, Lebanon’s health ministry said the death toll from an Israeli strike on the night of Oct 21 near Hariri Hospital, Beirut’s main government medical facility, had climbed to 13.

After a heavy night of Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s south and the southern suburbs of its capital Beirut, Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at the Glilot base used by Unit 8200 of Israeli military intelligence, and the Nirit area in Tel Aviv’s suburbs.

The group said it also fired rockets at a naval base outside the port city of Haifa farther north.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israel said air sirens were activated in areas south-east of Tel Aviv due to one projectile identified crossing from Lebanon and falling in an open area. Other sirens sounded in Tel Aviv.

Mr Blinken’s trip to the region is his 11th since the attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct 7, 2023, that triggered the Gaza war.

It comes as Israel intensifies its military campaign against Iran-backed militants – Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Mr Blinken will try to revive negotiations to end the Gaza war and defuse the conflict in Lebanon in a week-long Middle East visit which includes Jordan and Qatar. In Israel, he will discuss the country’s retaliation for Iran’s Oct 1 ballistic missile attack, a senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mr Blinken will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and other officials.

Allies are worried that Israel’s retaliation could disrupt oil markets and risk igniting a full-blown war between the arch-enemies.

Iran has written to the UN nuclear watchdog to complain about Israeli threats to strike its atomic energy sites, its foreign ministry spokesman said on Oct 21.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, at a news conference in Kuwait during a regional tour, said Tehran does not seek war in the Middle East and has made efforts to reduce tensions, but is prepared for any conflict.

Israel has vowed to attack Iran in retaliation for the volley of Iranian missiles on Oct 1, stirring speculation that Iranian nuclear sites could be among the targets.

“We know that Israel does not follow any international rule. We have our own tools to defend ourselves and our nuclear infrastructure,” Mr Araghchi said. “Attacking nuclear facilities is a big international crime; even threatening to attack nuclear sites is an international crime and goes against international laws,” he said.

The US official said that in meetings with Israel and Arab countries Mr Blinken will stress “day-after” issues, particularly security, governance and reconstruction. Having detailed plans for what happens when the hostilities eventually end are seen as prerequisites for achieving any lasting resolution to the conflict.

Breakthrough hard

Experts say Hamas and Israel remain deeply at odds and are unlikely to make significant concessions before the Nov 5 US presidential election, which could upend American policy.

In the last month, Israel has assassinated the leaders of Hezbollah in Lebanon and of Hamas in Gaza, while showing no sign of reining in its ground and aerial offensives.

The Biden administration has cast the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by the Israeli military last week as a possible opening that would finally pave the way to end the Gaza war, but Mr Netanyahu says fighting will continue.

Sinwar was one of the alleged masterminds of the Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israeli communities that killed around 1,200 people, with about 253 more taken back to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 42,500 Palestinians, with another 10,000 uncounted dead thought to be buried under the rubble, Gaza health authorities say.

UN resolution on its own “not enough”

The conflict has spread to Lebanon over the past month, with Israel launching a ground campaign and intensified air assault against Hezbollah, which had been firing across the frontier in parallel with the Gaza war in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel says it must destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure to let tens of thousands of Israelis return to homes they fled under Hezbollah fire. Its assault has driven 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes.

US envoy Amos Hochstein held talks with Lebanese officials in Beirut on Oct 21 on conditions for an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.

Israel wants firmer conditions than those agreed after the last major war it fought against Hezbollah in 2006, which ended with a UN resolution banning armed groups such as Hezbollah from the border area.

Mr Hochstein said it was “not enough” for both sides to commit to UN resolution 1701, which ended the last round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and which calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.

He said neither Hezbollah nor Israel had adequately implemented the UN resolution, and that while it would be the basis for the end to current hostilities, the US was seeking to determine what more needed to be done to make sure it was implemented “fairly, accurately and transparently”. REUTERS