Israeli residents and officials in the occupied Palestinian territories are on alert for extensive blazes that could be caused by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah’s firing of missiles as part of a campaign to force the regime to end its aggression on Gaza.
Reports on Tuesday said Israeli authorities were preparing for new brush fires a day after Hezbollah attacks led to major blazes in areas near the Lebanese border.
Dozens of teams from the Israeli military, police, the fire and rescue service and the nature and park service along with other agencies worked hard through the night to put out large fires caused by Hezbollah attacks.
Fires continued to spread on Tuesday morning, according to a statement on X by the regime’s fire service. Reports said blazes were encroaching on Qiryat Shemona, an area which has been a main target of Hezbollah attacks since they started in support of the Palestinians in Gaza in October.
Intense fires were also engulfing areas near Lebanon, according to an witness account cited by the AFP news agency.
Hezbollah attacks on Israeli military and espionage sites have forced the regime to evacuate tens of thousands of people from areas close to the Lebanese border with no prospect in sight for them to return.
The attacks have also inflicted a significant number of casualties on the regime with some estimates suggesting some 500 Israeli soldiers have been either killed or wounded in the strikes.
Israel has also launched attacks on southern Lebanon over the past months, killing hundreds of civilians, including Hezbollah fighters.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday that one of its fighters identified as Haider Hassan Maslamani had been killed in an Israeli attack on the southern city of Naqoura.