World
Gunman shot dead after infiltrating Israel from Lebanon and opening fire on troops
A gunman infiltrated Israel territory from Lebanon on Tuesday and opened fire on nearby Israeli troops stationed in south Lebanon before they shot him dead, according to the Israel Defense Forces. No troops were injured.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed eight people in Tyre after the military issued its first-ever call for residents to flee the entire coastal city and environs, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Following the rare infiltration in northern Israel, the IDF said troops were scanning near the Lebanon border area for additional possible attackers. The Israeli Air Force dispatched a drone to help with the searches, according to the military.
The IDF also sealed off a nearby highway and instructed residents of the Galilee Panhandle border communities Misgav Am, Margaliot and Manara to stay home until further notice.
A preliminary investigation by the military found that while the gunman was in Israeli territory, he never crossed the border fence, which is located several meters inside Israel.
According to the probe, the gunman opened fire on IDF troops operating in the Ramim Ridge area, on the Lebanese side of the border. The military said the troops returned fire and killed him, a short while after he had crossed into Israeli territory.
The gunman’s body was found a short while later in an Israeli military zone, on the western side of the border barrier. Army Radio reported that the gunman was dressed in a Hezbollah military uniform.
No terror operatives have infiltrated Israel from Lebanon since January 2024, when three operatives crossed the border in the Mount Dov area — where there is no border fence — and were killed in a gunfight that left five Israeli soldiers wounded.
There had also been several incidents of gunmen infiltrating Israel from Lebanon at the start of the conflict that Hezbollah initiated one day after its ally Hamas stormed Israel’s south on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza.
Tyre evacuation order includes Christian quarter for first time
The IDF on Tuesday morning called on residents of Tyre and its outskirts to flee north of the Zahrani River.
Issuing the warning, army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee stressed that it included Tyre’s Christian quarter, which had been spared such orders until now.
The IDF asserted last week that dozens of Hezbollah operatives were hiding in the Christian quarter, and threatened that it would “issue instructions to evacuate” and take “necessary actions” against the operatives if they remained.
Adraee followed up Tuesday with an “urgent warning to the residents of the city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, and the camps and neighborhoods surrounding it.”
“As we warned in recent days, following Hezbollah operatives’ activities within the city’s Christian quarter, the IDF will be compelled to act against their terror activities in the neighborhood in the near term,” Adraee said.
“Your presence near Hezbollah operatives, facilities, or weapons puts your lives at risk. Any building used by Hezbollah for military purposes may be subject to targeting,” he added.
IDF strikes in Tyre and Nabatieh said to kill at least 12
Israel’s subsequent strikes in Tyre killed at least eight people and wounded 32, the Lebanese health ministry said, noting the toll was provisional.
Lebanon’s state-run National News agency reported the first retrieval of a body in Tyre shortly past 10 a.m., roughly half an hour after Adraee posted the evacuation warning online.
Separately, NNA reported four people, including a 16-year-old, killed Tuesday morning in Israeli strikes on the area of Nabatieh, which lies farther inland from Tyre in south Lebanon, and was not included in the evacuation warning.
The strikes came a day after a spate of fighting between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah’s backer, which on Sunday night fired missiles at Israel for the first time in two months.
The bout of violence ended within about 12 hours, amid US pressure, with Iran vowing to respond to further Israeli “aggression” in Lebanon, and Israel resolved to keep up operations against Hezbollah.
Iran renewed its attacks on Israel after the IDF struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut, despite a Lebanon ceasefire agreement that the US announced last week.
Hezbollah urges Beirut to mend ties with Tehran
Hezbollah, which has assailed the Lebanese government for negotiating directly with Israel, rejected that agreement, triggering calls from Lebanon’s president and prime minister for Tehran to stop interfering in Beirut’s affairs.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah urged Beirut to mend its ties with Tehran and benefit from its support.
“We call on the Lebanese authorities to seize the opportunity available and correct their official relationship with the Islamic Republic in a way that serves the interest of both states,” a Hezbollah statement said.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider regional conflict on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign on Iran on February 28, which aimed to put an end to the threat of the Iranian regime’s nuclear program.
While the Iran conflict entered a truce on April 8, Pakistani-backed negotiations have failed to secure a full end to hostilities, with Iran insisting any agreement must include a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Haykal left on Saturday to meet his powerful Pakistani counterpart Asim Munir, with a Lebanon-based source telling AFP the visit was linked to the broader peace talks.
The two military commanders discussed “matters of mutual interest, (the) evolving regional security environment, defense cooperation and prospects for enhancing bilateral military relations,” said a statement Tuesday from the media wing of the Pakistani military.
Munir “underscored (the) Pakistan Army’s commitment to expanding defense collaboration with the Lebanese Armed Forces,” the statement said, after Haykal received an honor guard ahead of the meeting in the city of Rawalpindi.
