Israeli airstrikes targeted Lebanese-Syrian border towns in the Hermel district: Day 301 of the Gaza war

Thank you for following our live updates of the Gaza war and its implications on the region, particularly Lebanon. 

We will continue our coverage starting tomorrow morning. 

No casualties have been recorded in the Israeli strike on the Hermel district, security sources told our correspondent in the region.

⚡ An Israeli airstrike targeted the Lebanese-Syrian border town of al-Qasr (Hermel district), reported our correspondent in the region, Sarah Abdallah, citing local sources. A few minutes later, the Israeli warplane carried out two other airstrikes on al-Qasr and Hosh al-Sayed, both in the Hermel district. 

"Escalation in the Middle East is not inevitable," said the Pentagon, according to Reuters. It also said that "all countries would benefit from de-escalation."

Hezbollah's response to Israel's assassination of one of its top executives, Fouad Shukur, will be "important and significant", assured Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary-General, in a statement to the press.

"Every time we lose a martyr, and especially when it's one of our senior cadres, our determination grows stronger," he added.

Hezbollah announced that it has successfully at 6:45 p.m. targeted "spy equipment" at the Israeli Raheb site, opposite the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil).

(Credit: Muntasser Abdallah/L'Orient Today)

Around 500 people demonstrated this afternoon against the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Fouad Shukur, a senior Hezbollah official, in Saida's Martyrs' Square, according to our correspondent in South Lebanon.

Speaking at the sit-in, Hezbollah MP Hassan Ezzedine said that "what happened in Beirut and Tehran is an aggression and a deliberate crime." "We are facing a new phase in the conflict," he continued.

"We are ready for war", said Ayman Shana'a, deputy political leader of Hamas.

Carrying Palestinian flags and the victim's photos, protesters chanted slogans in solidarity with Palestine and South Lebanon, denouncing Israel.

Poland has advised its citizens against travelling to Lebanon, Israel and Iran, according to updated guidance published today, reported Reuters.

"In connection with a growing number of Polish tourists visiting Lebanon, Israel and Iran, we want to repeat that we have long advised against any kind of travel to this region," the Foreign Affairs Ministry said on X.

"The unstable security situation makes it possible to believe that it will be more and more difficult to leave the three countries," the ministry added.

Earlier today, Polish airline LOT said it cancelled eight flights to Lebanon and Israel because of the security situation, PAP news agency reported.

The Church of England's spiritual head, the Archbishop of Canterbury, urged governments to respect the ICJ's decision that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, saying the law should not be upheld in a "selective manner."

"At a time when the world is marked by increasing violations of international law ... it is imperative governments around the world reaffirm their unwavering commitment to all decisions by the ICJ, irrespective of the situation," Welby said.

Welby noted from his many visits in recent decades the "system of military rule" imposed by successive Israeli governments in occupied Palestinian territories was one of "systemic discrimination." 

To find out more about what the Archbishop of Canterbury said, press here. 👈

The Israeli navy says that it completed this week "a successful test of the LRAD long-rang interceptor" which is meant to take out a variety of threats, including cruise missiles and rockets, Reuters reported citing the military.

The test was carried out with Israel on high alert for possible attacks.

The Lebanese Health Ministry announced that its Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC) has distributed tons of medicines and medical equipment to 37 public and private hospitals over the past 48 hours to boost their capacity to cope with a potential Israeli attack on Lebanon.

First aid and emergency equipment have also been distributed in South Lebanon, Nabatieh, Baalbeck-Hermel, Beirut and its southern suburbs.

PHEOC noted that this is not the first distribution of medicines and that it will continue with the aim of equipping as many medical centers as possible in anticipation of a possible deterioration in the security situation.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has revealed reports that Iran plans to launch a drone attack on Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, reported Israeli website Ynetnews.

Also, the Jerusalem Post quotes Western intelligence sources interviewed by Sky News Arabia, who believe that Iran could attack Israel on Tisha B'Av, the Jewish day for commemorating the destruction of the first and second temples — which falls between August 12 and 13 this year. 

UN Interim Force spokesman Andrea Tenenti commented on the Majdal Shams strike, in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, stating that the UN agency "was not in a position to hold any party responsible for this incident."

The Majdal Shams strike, which happened on 27 July, left 12 Arab-Druze children and adolescence dead. Israel blamed the strike on Hezbollah, while the latter vehemently denied any responsibility.

Tenenti told the National News Agency that the UNIFIL had not investigated the incident as "the village of Majdal Shams lies outside the UNIFIL area of operations."

Here are the latest developments in South Lebanon:

- Israeli warplanes targeted Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil district), residents told our correspondent.

- An Israeli airstrike targeted a house in Blida (Marjayoun).

In a call that two U.S. officials described as "tough," President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would help Israel defend itself against a new Iranian attack — but stressed that de-escalation must be the priority, American news website Axios reported.

Additionally, the Biden administration is concerned it may be more difficult to mobilize the same international and regional coalition of countries that helped Israel repulse the previous Iranian attack in April.

The Israeli army reported rockets launched from Gaza, which hit open area near southern Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi, according to Haaretz. 

Hundreds of people bid farewell Friday at a mosque in Qatar to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after his killing in Tehran, an attack blamed on Israel that deepened fears of a regional war.

Haniyeh is due to be buried in a cemetery in Lusail, north of Doha, after the brief prayer that brought together hundreds of people in the Imam Mohammad ben Abdel Wahab Mosque.

On Friday morning, Haniyeh's body was taken to the Doha mosque, protected by heavy security forces, where worshippers gathered wearing the Palestinian flag or the traditional kuffiyeh. Some of them stayed outside to pray, on mats, in 44 degrees Celsius, before the coffin wrapped in the Palestinian flag was taken to the cemetery.

Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan are expected to attend the ceremony. Turkey and Pakistan declared a day of mourning.

To read more about it, press here.👈

Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a meeting at the Grand Serail with the ambassadors of the permanent member countries of the UN Security Council: the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, and Russia. The meeting, attended by caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, also included representatives from the non-permanent member countries of the Security Council, such as Algeria, Japan, Switzerland, and South Korea.

The meeting reaffirmed Lebanon's commitment to regional stability, emphasizing the importance of implementing Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 1701, which was adopted in 2006 to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Here are the latest developments on the southern Lebanese-Israeli border:

- Israeli artillery has again targeted Robb al-Thalathin (Marjayoun), as well as Blida and the vicinity of Rashaya al-Foukhar (Hasbaya), according to local residents.

- Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an artillery shell attack at 2:40 p.m. on the Israeli site of Bayad Blida, opposite the Lebanese village of Blida (Marjayoun).

- Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for a missile attack at 3 p.m. on the Israeli site of Marj, opposite the Lebanese village of Markaba (Marjayoun).

France has called on its nationals "who may still be in Iran" to leave the country "as soon as possible," due to the "heightened" risk of military escalation between Israel and Tehran after the elimination of a Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran attributed to Israel, reported AFP.

Warning text messages in Arabic and Hebrew. (Credit: Screenshot sent to OLJ)

Residents of the Makassed neighborhood in Nabatieh evacuated their homes as a precaution after several families received text messages on their cell phones in Arabic and Hebrew asking them to leave the area due to an imminent bombing, Civil Defense sources told our correspondent.

According to these sources, the relevant authorities have been informed and are investigating.

A screenshot sent to L'Orient-Le Jour shows the text messages in Arabic and Hebrew: "For your safety and the safety of your family, please evacuate the house within the hour." The sender warns that places used by Hezbollah in the building will be targeted.

To find out more, press here. 

Israel's foreign ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador to his country for a reprimand after the Turkish embassy lowered its flag to half-mast for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

"The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

An update on the situation in southern Lebanon:

⁠- Israeli artillery shelling on the outskirts of Naqoura (Sour), residents told our correspondent.

-⁠⁠ Hezbollah said in a statement that it successfully targeted at 01:15 p.m. “al-Sammaqa site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kafr Shouba with rockets.”

"Nothing is stronger than the voice of war, which takes revenge on Zionist terrorism and American projects that thrive on chaos, destruction and blood," Jaafarite Mufti Ahmad Qabalan said in the Friday sermon. "We must get out of American influence and beware of American diplomatic deception that practices the most serious types of hypocrisy, which led to the martyrdom of Commander Fouad Shukur."

"What Tel Aviv did is nothing but an American operation carried out by Israel," Qabalan added. "The assassination of leaders does not change anything and strengthens the resistance."

(Credit: Wael Taleb)

Dozens of people gathered around and inside the Ali Ibn Abi Taleb Mosque in Tariq Jdideh during Friday prayers and to commemorate the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed by Israel earlier this week. They also paraded with empty coffins as a symbolic funeral for Haniyeh, reports L'Orient Today's reporter.

"Haniye represented our fight and our struggle," a Palestinian national told our reporter during the march. "They think they will end the fight by killing Haniye, but they are wrong. We will continue," he said.

Hezbollah claims responsibility for an attack carried out at 1:05 p.m. on "a troop of Israeli soldiers" opposite Dhaira (Sour) with artillery shells. Dhaira residents also told L'Orient Today's correspondent that an Israeli drone fired at least three missiles at a house in the village.

Three Israeli lawmakers, members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, warned the government against a land incursion into Lebanon based on the Israeli military's current plan, saying it could "result in a tragic failure," Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reports.

The warning comes as fears of a spread of war across the Middle East between Israel and Iran and the groups it supports in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have been rekindled following Israeli attacks in Tehran and Beirut.

Read the full story here.

An Israeli drone targeted the village of Rab al-Thalathine (Marjayoun), residents reported to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the region.

Air India announced in a post on X that it has suspended all scheduled flights to and from Tel Aviv, effective immediately, continuing through Aug. 8, due to the rising tensions in the Middle East.

Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli army, accused Hezbollah's secretary general of "lying" about the strike on Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the annexed Syrian Golan where a missile attack blamed on the party killed 12 children. Speaking yesterday, Hassan Nasrallah reiterated that his party had nothing to do with the incident.

"Nasrallah is lying because he is afraid of having the blood of the children of Majdal Shams on his hands, and he fears the Druze in Lebanon and the Arab world. Nasrallah is dragging Lebanon and the Middle East into a dangerous escalation," Adraee accused.

Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said he preferred "not to start a full-scale war" with Hezbollah while ensuring that the army remained prepared for any scenario.

"Hezbollah is a global terrorist organization that poses a global threat. Its aggression and relentless attacks are leading the region into further escalation. While we prefer to resolve hostilities without initiating a full-scale war, we remain fully prepared for any scenario," Daniel Hagari said on X.

British Defense Secretary John Healey has arrived in Israel after his visit to Beirut to "try to prevent an escalation of hostilities" following Israel's assassination of senior Hezbollah official Fouad Shukur earlier this week, Haaretz reports.

The Israeli army announced that it had killed Mohammad al-Jaabri, "a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad," in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, Haaretz reported.

According to the military, he was involved in weapons manufacturing and trying to strengthen the organization's rocket capabilities.

During a meeting with British Foreign and Defense Ministers David Lammy and John Healy on Thursday, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said that "Lebanon does not want war, but it is ready to defend itself," the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

He also assured that Lebanon has "respected resolution 1701 from the first day" and that this resolution could be implemented either by "a permanent cease-fire on Gaza" or by "a truce of several weeks."

The attack that killed seven aid workers in the Gaza Strip on April 1 was the result of "serious failures" by the Israeli military, according to the Australian government's investigation report released on Friday.

The investigation, led by former air force chief Mark Binskin, was ordered by Canberra after an Australian woman was killed in the three-strike series, which also killed three Britons, an American-Canadian, a Pole and a Palestinian. All seven victims worked for the American organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), founded by celebrity chef José Andrés. The Israeli military has acknowledged a series of errors at various levels.

The funeral of the Syrian family killed yesterday in an Israeli strike in Shamaa will take place today at 11:00 a.m., in the village cemetery. Fatima al-Raja al-Hajj will be buried with her three children: Sleiman, Mohammad and Ahmad.

This was the first time the town of Shamaa has been targeted since Oct. 8, 2023. The strike took place during the speech of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday afternoon. It hit the home where the Syrian family lived. Five Lebanese people were also injured, according to the latest report from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

In a statement issued this morning, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry returned to the U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on July 31. During this meeting, it condemned the Israeli aggression against the southern suburbs of Beirut, calling it "a dangerous escalation because it targeted a densely populated residential area, in flagrant violation of international law, international humanitarian law and the U.N. Charter."

During the session, the Charge d'Affaires of the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations, Hadi Hashem, reiterated "Lebanon's commitment to international legitimacy, its rejection of war and its full commitment to resolution 1701." He also stressed that "the first and fundamental condition for any initiative aimed at calming the situation in the south is to end the occupation of the Shebaa Farms, the Kfar Shouba Hills and the hamlets of al-Mari, as well as to find a solution to Lebanon's reservations on all points of the Blue Line and to put an end to land, sea and air violations of Lebanese sovereignty."

The statement also said that "Lebanon condemned Israel's attacks on countries in the region, the latest being the assassination [of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh] in Tehran, which confirms Israel's aggressive intentions and its desire to expand the conflict zone, calling on the Security Council to adjust its approach before it is too late."

An update on the situation in southern Lebanon:

During the night, shortly after 9 p.m., dozens of rockets were launched from the south towards Israeli sites, security sources reported to L'Orient Today's correspondent. A little later, Israeli artillery fire targeted Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil) and the surroundings of Zebkine (Sour). The Israelis also targeted the surroundings of the village of Yater (Bint Jbeil). Around 11 p.m., Israeli planes flew over the region of Spur and dropped incendiary balloons.

After midnight, Israeli drones flew over the villages of Marjayoun and Hasbaya districts and fighter jets flew over the Nabatieh region.

During the night, Hezbollah issued two statements. In the first, it announced that its fighters had launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at the Israeli town of Matzuva. In the second, the party claimed that its air defense unit had launched missiles "against enemy warplanes in Lebanese airspace, forcing them to retreat and withdraw beyond the Lebanese borders with occupied Palestine."

(Credit: Iranian Supreme Leader's Website/AFP)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had threatened Israel with "severe punishment," recited the prayer for the dead before the coffins of Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard on Thursday, which were covered with the Palestinian flag. The Houthi rebels, also allied with Hamas, promised on Thursday a "military response" to the "dangerous escalation" they said Israel had provoked.

According to the New York Times, citing three unidentified Iranian officials, Ayatollah Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday to strike directly at Israel in response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel was at a "very high level" of preparedness for any scenario, "both defensive and offensive," according to his office.

In a phone call with Netanyahu on Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden "reaffirmed his commitment to Israel's security against all threats from Iran, including from terrorist proxy groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis " in Yemen, the president said.

Hours later, Biden said he was "very concerned" about tensions in the Middle East and said the assassination of the Hamas leader had "not helped" the situation.

Hamas called for a "day of rage" today on the occasion of the funeral of its political leader and demanded that "marches of anger start from every mosque" after the main Friday prayer.

In Lebanon, Hamas has called for a large-scale demonstration at 1 p.m. in Tariq Jdideh, after Friday prayers, in front of the Ali Ibn Abi Taleb Mosque.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran on Wednesday after an attack blamed on Israel, is to be buried today in Qatar, where he lived in exile, while Iran and its allies prepare their response.

After an official funeral, marked by calls for revenge, which brought together thousands of people on Thursday in Tehran, a prayer ceremony will take place at the Imam Mohammad bin Abdel Wahhab mosque, the largest in the capital, Doha.

Be sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.

Morning Brief

Nasrallah threatens 'retribution' amid 'new phase' of the war: Everything you need to know to start your Friday

Good morning!

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza and its regional and Global impacts.