A Lebanese civil defence worker inspects a house shelled by Israeli forces on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese border village of Dhaira, Oct. 11, 2023, the fourth day of cross-border tensions. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP)
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Israeli strikes injured at least three civilians in Marwaheen and Dhayra, South Lebanon, after a Hezbollah barrage caused Israeli army casualties. State-run National News Agency reported that the Israeli strike damaged at least ten homes, agricultural land and the main water tank that services the village of Yareen. Hezbollah said its missile strike was in retaliation to an Israeli attack that killed three of its people on Tuesday. Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire since the Hamas-Israeli war began. AFP reported that US Armed Forces chief of staff Charles Brown sees no signs of additional countries or “actors” seeking to join the war. Besieged Gaza residents told L’Orient Today that they have no “electricity or water” as the death toll mounts on the fifth day of the Hamas-Israel war. Several journalists and at least 11 UN staffers along with five International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) members were killed in Gaza. You can follow our live coverage of day five of the Hamas-Israel war here.
Drilling in Block 9, Lebanon’s exploratory offshore oil and gas field, was not interrupted, caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad told Reuters. “It is still early to determine the impact that the conflict will have on Lebanese offshore activities,” energy and political risk consultant Mona Sukkarieh told L’Orient Today. The possible suspension of exploration would not immediately result in direct and substantial monetary losses for Lebanon, given that no oil and gas resources have yet been found. Israel has suspended its offshore activities in the Tamar field. According to the Lebanese Petroleum Administration, exploratory drilling that began in Block 9 on Aug. 24 could determine whether commercially viable quantities of hydrocarbons are present by the end of this month. Last October, Lebanon and Israel concluded an indirect maritime border deal.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “What can UNIFIL do if things in Lebanon escalate?”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz