Smoke rises following Israeli strikes around the village of Kfar Melki in southern Lebanon, March 22, 2025. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket fire Israel says was launched from southern Lebanon toward the northern Israeli village of Metula on Saturday morning, marking its first official comment on the day’s escalation. No group has taken responsibility for the attacks.
In a statement released early Saturday afternoon, Hezbollah condemned what it called Israeli "pretexts" to "continue its attacks on Lebanon, which have not ceased since the cease-fire was announced" on Nov. 27, 2024. The Israeli army continues to occupy five sites on the Lebanese side of the Blue Line, one of its hundreds of violations of the truce agreement, which, since it was signed, as failed to prevent Israel from killing over 100 people in Lebanon and razing entire villages to the ground.
"Hezbollah reaffirms its commitment to the cease-fire agreement and asserts its support for the Lebanese state in confronting this dangerous Zionist escalation against Lebanon," the statement reads. Foundational to the cease-fire agreement is Hezbollah's withdrawal from south of the Litani River and the Lebanese Army's assertion of control in the area as the only armed force, alongside U.N. peacekeepers.
A parliamentary source in Hezbollah reiterated to the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the party had informed Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam that it has no connection to the rocket fire from southern Lebanon and that it has "no intention of escalating."
In retaliation for the three rockets fired and intercepted over Metula, Israel has shelled at least six southern Lebanese villages and bombed an additional 18 sites across the South, killing at least two people, including a young girl, and wounding nine others, according to the latest toll from the Health Ministry.
Lebanon's prime minister and president, as well as UNIFIL have all released statements condemning the attacks and calling for calm, warning that should the situation spiral out of control, the consequences could be dire.
BEIRUT — Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket fire Israel says was launched from southern Lebanon toward the northern Israeli village of Metula on Saturday morning, marking its first official comment on the day’s escalation. No group has taken responsibility for the attacks.In a statement released early Saturday afternoon, Hezbollah condemned what it called Israeli "pretexts" to "continue its attacks on Lebanon, which have not ceased since the cease-fire was announced" on Nov. 27, 2024. The Israeli army continues to occupy five sites on the Lebanese side of the Blue Line, one of its hundreds of violations of the truce agreement, which, since it was signed, as failed to prevent Israel from killing over 100 people in Lebanon and razing entire villages to the ground."Hezbollah reaffirms its commitment to the...