Israel says Hezbollah attack on base did not cause damage

The "window is closing for a positive outcome" in the latest round of talks to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Nawaf Al-Thani, the former Qatari defense intelligence director, told DW on Sunday.

Al-Thani was speaking hours after Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah engaged in a massive missile exchange, raising the specter of a wider regional conflict.

"Every kinetic operation threatens to impact negotiations negatively," he said, adding that the mediation efforts don't appear to be affected by the latest violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

Al-Thani noted how both sides had made demands that were not included in the Biden administration's peace plan and hostage deal, which was first mooted in May.

Among other requirements, Israel is insisting its military keeps positions along the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land that runs along the entire border between Gaza and Egypt, which Al-Thani said had made negotiations "much more complicated."

"The mediators' role now is to refocus the attention of negotiating parties. No one will get everything they want, that's something both parties must understand," he told DW.

Asked why Hamas was not participating directly in the talks, Al-Thani said: "The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of [Hamas'] political wing, who oversaw negotiations ... doesn't make negotiations easy. However, Hamas has committed to be briefed and to cooperate [with the mediators]."

Al-Thani said Hamas had also agreed in principle to the Biden plan, but added that it was now up to mediators from the US, Qatar and Egypt to "bridge the gaps" to allow the negotiations to "move forward."

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said his group's attack on Israel targeted a military intelligence base near Tel Aviv around 100 kilometers (70 miles) from the Israel-Lebanon border.

The "main target for the operation" inside Israel was "the Glilot base — the main Israeli military intelligence base," Nasrallah said in a televised speech, denying statements by the Israeli military. 
He said despite Israel pre-empting the attack by launching strikes on southern Lebanon, "None of our precision or strategic missiles were damaged."

Nasrallah said Hezbollah's operation was completed "as planned, with precision" and said the group would assess the impact of its attacks before determining whether to launch further strikes.

The Israeli military told AFP news agency that that there were "no hits" on the Gilot base near Tel Aviv.   

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi spoke with the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown, warning him about the dangers of escalation in Lebanon.

The Egyptian president told Brown that the international community needed to "exert all efforts and intensify pressures to defuse tension and stop the state of escalation that threatens the security and stability of the entire region."

He warned of the dangers of opening a new front in Lebanon, and stressing the need to preserve Lebanon's stability and sovereignty," in a statement published by his office, summarizing the meeting with Brown.

It comes after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, in one of the largest clashes in more than 10 months of border warfare between the two countries.

El-Sissi also called for a stronger response "to joint Egyptian-American-Qatari efforts" for a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange, which would enable a "path to calm and stability in the region," the statement read.

For its part, the White House said on Friday that cease-fire talks in Cairo have been constructive and were expected to continue over the weekend to continue to press Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire agreement.

Israeli forces on Sunday carried out what they called preemptive strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, destroying thousands of rockets aimed at northern Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced that Israeli forces had successfully shot down numerous Hezbollah drones en route to Israeli sites. Hezbollah declared that it had launched the large-scale attack in response to the killing of one of its top commanders last month.

Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah that Sunday's operation signaled "another step toward changing the situation in the north and returning our residents safely to their homes," adding, "This is not the end of the story." 

Lebanese officials voiced hope that both Israel and Hezbollah would now refrain from further activity and allow cease-fire negotiations in Cairo to move forward in an effort to pause the 10 month conflict.

Hezbollah has attacked Israel almost daily since Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza on October 7, displacing tens of thousands of residents. Hezbollah has said that it would halt attacks on Israel as soon as a cease-fire was in place.

The US and Israel estimate that Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets in its arsenal, saying the group has also developed high-tech drones capable of avoiding Israeli air defenses. 

Flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut scheduled for Sunday and Monday from France have been suspended, the country's flagship airline said.

Air France usually runs a daily service to both cities, and it had already halted flights to Beirut between July 29 and August 15. 

The announcement comes after a spike in cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah early Sunday.

Royal Jordanian Airlines, Jordan's flag carrier, also suspended its Beirut flights, citing "the current situation."

Germany's Lufthansa extended its Beirut flight suspension on Friday, to last until the end of September, and announced it would not fly to Tel Aviv and Tehran until September 2.

According to French news agency AFP, Beirut's airport was still open Sunday, but many passengers were left stranded due to delayed or canceled flights. 

The United Nations special coordinator's office in Lebanon (UNSCOL) and UNIFIL peacekeepers have called the situation at the border between Israel and Lebanon "worrying" as hostilities between the Israeli military and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia escalate. 

The two agencies on Sunday issued a joint statement in which they "call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action."

"A return to the cessation of hostilities, followed by the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, is the only sustainable way forward," the statement said, adding: "We will continue our contacts to strongly urge for deescalation."

The statement comes after Israel struck various sites in Lebanon and Hezbollah said it launched attacks on Israeli positions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that his country will "do everything" to defend itself and ensure the security of residents in northern Israel.

His comments came after Hezbollah launched a flurry of rockets and drones at Israel in response to the killing of a senior commander last month. 

"We are determined to do everything possible to defend our country, to return the residents of the north safely to their homes and to continue to uphold a simple rule: Whoever harms us — we harm him," Netanyahu said at the start of a Cabinet meeting on Sunday. 

He said the military had eliminated "thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel."

Israel's military said its fighter jets attacked thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon that were aimed at northern and central Israel.

"Approximately 100 IAF fighter jets ... struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels that were located and embedded in southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement. 

"Most of these launchers were aimed toward northern Israel, and some were aimed toward central Israel."

Military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters that Hezbollah in turn "fired hundreds of rockets and UAVs toward northern Israel."

Shoshani said the rockets were "part of a larger attack that was planned, and we were able to thwart a big part of it this morning," but he did not specify what Hezbollah had targeted.

"We're still in a situation assessment of the aftermath of the attack ... there is still some fire happening," he added.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that one person had died in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the town of Khiam. 

Local media in Lebanon also reported other strikes across the country's south.

Flights to and from Israel's main airport have resumed after they were briefly halted as the Israeli military carried out strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. 

Operations at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv resumed at 7:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT/UTC), Israel's Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Roy Steinmetz said.

The "planes diverted to other airports will also take off from Ben Gurion again," he added. 

The United States has doubled down on its solidarity with Israel amid the ongoing hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated Washington's continued support for Israeli defense in a conversation with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said.

"Secretary Austin reaffirmed the United States' ironclad commitment to Israel's defense against any attacks by Iran and its regional partners and proxies," Ryder said in a statement.

In a separate statement, a Pentagon spokesperson added that the US has "been very clear" that it "is postured to support the defense of Israel."

The comments from Washington came as the Israeli military said it carried out preemptive strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, and as the group launched large-scale drone and rocket attacks in retaliation for the death of its military commander in an Israeli strike last month.
 

Hezbollah said that, in response to the killing of its top commander in a Beirut suburb last month, it had launched an attack on Israel with a large number of drones and rockets.

The Lebanon-based group said it targeted an identified "special military target as well as Israel's Iron Dome platforms and other sites but that the full response would take "some time."

"The number of Katyusha rockets launched until now is more than 320 ... towards enemy positions," a Hezbollah statement said.

The group added that it had targeted 11 Israeli bases and barracks. 

Iran-backed Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries.

Following Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv began diverting incoming flights and delaying others scheduled to take off on Sunday.

Flight-tracking data showed at least two El Al flights diverting after the announcement.

There will also be no take-offs for the next few hours, the Times of Israel reported, citing the Israeli airport authority.

Incoming aircraft would be diverted to other airports in the area. The authority advised travelers to contact the airlines to find out about the flight schedule changes.

The Israeli military said early Sunday it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after identifying the group as "preparing to fire missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory."

"In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the [Israeli military] is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians," Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

The Israeli military also issued a warning for people close to Hezbollah areas to leave.

"Anyone who is near areas where Hezbollah operates should leave immediately to protect themselves and their families," it said in Arabic.

The military also warned Israelis to expect incoming missiles and drones launched by Iranian-backed militia from across the border. Shortly after the warning, sirens sounded in northern Israel.

Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported strikes in the south of the country, without immediately giving further details. 

The Israeli attacks and warnings come amid fears that Iran and its allies have been preparing a retaliatory move after an Israeli strike in July killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Iran has also vowed a response after  Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran last month, which Iran blamed on Israel.

dh/ab (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)