BEIRUT: Israeli fighter jets broke the sound barrier over Beirut, Sidon and other parts of Lebanon on Monday.
The planes carried out mock airstrikes on the Hasbaya area and the occupied Sheba Farm, reaching the Bekaa.
Hostilities on the southern front have been greatly reduced, but sporadic attacks continue.
One of the Israeli airstrikes targeted a house in the village of Cihine in the Tyre district.
The attack left people wounded, and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party reported one of its members was killed.
Meanwhile, Lebanese army units found drone debris in the village of Aiha in the Rashaya district. The military command did not clarify the nature of the drone or whether it was Israeli or came from another source.
Israel attacked a Lebanese army watchtower on the outskirts of al-Ma'ah al-Shaab in southern Lebanon on Sunday night, the military said, “leaving two soldiers critically wounded and taken to hospital for treatment.”
Meanwhile, Hezbollah used drones to attack the Israeli military base al-Malikiyah, hitting one of the bunkers.
Developments in the southern region and the question of extending the mandate of UNIFIL, which is on the agenda of the UN Security Council, have become the focus of domestic political attention.
Interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati told a meeting with senior officials that recent developments “naturally require caution, but we are continuing to discuss with the relevant parties and engage in necessary diplomatic contacts to prevent the issue from escalating into undesirable outcomes.”
He added: “We cannot say that we have any peace of mind or assurance, because we cannot guarantee the intentions of Israel's enemies. But we are working diligently to resolve the situation.”
Regarding the extension of the mandate for the international force operating in southern Lebanon, Mikati said: “We are continuing diplomatic contacts to calmly extend the mandate of UNIFIL. We highly value the essential role of UNIFIL in the southern region and the fruitful cooperation between UNIFIL and the military.
“From the contacts we've had, we've felt a desire to maintain this role, especially given the delicate circumstances the South is going through.”
After meeting with Mikati, Foreign Minister Abdullah Bu Habib told the prime minister that “there was a preliminary agreement to extend the mission of the Unifil force for one year under the same conditions, without any amendments.”
Boo Habib, who briefed Mikati on his return from New York, also said the U.S. and European officials he met with had stressed “the importance of not escalating the war and not escalating military action in the South.”
“There is a certain optimism, or less pessimism, about a widespread war breaking out in Lebanon,” he added.
Also on Monday, a group of opposition lawmakers submitted a petition to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri asking him to convene a meeting to discuss the fallout from the 10-month-old conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.
Opposition lawmakers Georges Okais, Mark Dow, Ashraf Rifi and Salim Sayegh called on Berri to “hold parliamentary session as soon as possible to discuss the ongoing war, prevent its escalation and ensure that the government fulfils its constitutional obligations”.
In their petition, the lawmakers called for diplomatic efforts to return to the 1949 armistice and fully implement UN Resolution 1701.
They stressed that the military action “outside the framework of the Lebanese state and institutions” must end, a state of emergency must be declared in the south, control must be handed over to the army, and it must be allowed to respond to any attack on Lebanese territory.
They cited “the escalation and threats that have reached their highest level since October 8, and the growing fears of an escalation in the ongoing war that has so far claimed hundreds of Lebanese lives, the economic and environmental damage caused by routine Israeli attacks, and the repercussions in light of the political and economic crisis plaguing the country, and the disruption of the country's presidential elections.”
Nabil Kauk, a member of Hezbollah's central committee, said Israel had “led the region down a path of escalation.”
“The support front in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen is entering a new phase, introducing a new field equation that can pressure Israel's enemies to stop their aggression in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
