Hezbollah Drone Wounds 18 Israeli Troops as Clashes Escalate

Bloomberg:  A drone attack by Hezbollah militants on Sunday injured 18 Israeli soldiers, one of them seriously, according to Israel’s military.

The assault in the northern Golan Heights came as Israel and Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, move closer to a full-scale war after trading fire since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

The attack targeted a command center and was a response to Israel firing on houses in south Lebanon, Hezbollah said. Israel’s military responded by striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon — including an observation post and a rocket-launch site — but didn’t imply the Iran-backed militant group’s latest actions were serious enough to be a cause for war.

Israel and Hezbollah Lurch Closer to Full-Blown War in Lebanon

Around 80,000 civilians have had to be evacuated from each of southern Lebanon and northern Israel because of the skirmishes. In Lebanon, more than 300 Hezbollah combatants and roughly 80 civilians have been killed. Israel’s lost around 18 soldiers and 10 civilians.

Hezbollah’s strikes in recent weeks have been among its most forceful since October. A full war with Israel could draw in Iran, along with its allied militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, as well as the US.

Senior western diplomats have recently visited Jerusalem and Beirut to broker a diplomatic deal that would see Hezbollah fighters retreat from the Lebanese border area near Israel.

Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the US, is the most powerful militia in the Middle East and thought by Israeli intelligence to have more than 100,000 rockets and missiles, a much bigger arsenal than what Hamas is believed to have had before Oct. 7.