TEL AVIV, January 15. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will continue to respond to shelling attacks from Lebanese territory, IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said, noting that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based radical Shiite movement, will have to pay "an increasingly heavy price" for the attacks.
"Earlier, two civilians were killed in a missile attack against a civilian house in Kfar Yuval," the military official said. "Hezbollah is a murderous terrorist organization that kills civilians. We will not allow harm to civilians; the price for this will not only be extracted tonight but also in the future," he added. "In the last hour, we struck Hezbollah military targets in Lebanon. We continue to damage the organization's capabilities and extract an increasingly heavy price," the spokesman said.
"We are determined to change the security situation in the north and, in parallel, remain focused on Gaza - where the hostages are held," Hagari added.
Two Israelis were killed on January 14 when the country’s northern borderline region was shelled, The Times of Israel newspaper reported. Later, the IDF delivered retaliatory strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, according to the army press service.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.