JERUSALEM: Lebanon’s Hezbollah has launched more than 50 rockets, hitting a number of private homes in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
The attack on Wednesday came a day after US secretary of state Antony Blinken met fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar as he pressed ahead with the latest diplomatic mission to secure a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, even as Hamas and Israel signalled that challenges remain.
Hamas in a new statement called the latest proposal presented to it a “reversal” of what it agreed to previously and accused the US of acquiescing to what it called “new conditions” from Israel. There was no immediate US response.
First responders in Golan Heights said they treated a 30-year-old man who was moderately wounded with shrapnel injuries in Wednesday’s attack.
One house was engulfed in flames, and fire fighters said they prevented a bigger tragedy by stopping a gas leak.
Hezbollah said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed one and injured 19. On Tuesday, Hezbollah launched more than 200 projectiles toward Israel, after Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot some 80 km from the border, a significant increase in the daily skirmishes.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded near-daily strikes for more than 10 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hezbollah’s ally, Hamas, in Gaza. The exchanges have killed more than 500 people in Lebanon — mostly militants but also including around 100 civiliansand non-combatants — and 23 soldiers and 26 civilians in Israel.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, saying it needs the strategic plateau for its security.
The US is the only country to recognise Israel’s annexation, while the rest of the international community considers the Golan to be occupied Syrian territory.
AP/PTI

Agencies