(Kiryat Shmona) Israeli authorities are on alert for the risk of new forest fires on Tuesday, after Hezbollah’s firing of rockets and drones from neighboring Lebanon the previous evening sparked several fires in northern Israel .
The Israel Fire and Rescue Service said dozens of fire crews worked throughout last night along with crews from the Parks and Nature Service, army, police and other agencies. before being able to control the biggest fires on Tuesday morning, reported an AFP journalist.
“At this moment there are three active sites” near the border with Lebanon, the fire department wrote on X on Tuesday. An AFP journalist indicated that firefighters were still battling smaller fires.
An AFP photographer in Kiryat Shmona saw during the night from Monday to Tuesday intense fires devouring parts of this town in northeastern Israel adjoining the border with Lebanon, which was largely evacuated because of the almost daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, a fire in the Israeli-occupied and annexed Syrian Golan burned about ten square kilometers of land after a rocket attack from Lebanon struck near the town of Katzrin.
In Lebanon, the official news agency (Ani) reported fires in Alma al-Chaab and Dhayra, two villages near the Israeli border.
She claimed the fires were caused by “Israeli phosphorus incendiary bombs.”
The Israeli army said late Monday evening that it had deployed reinforcements, in particular to support firefighters overwhelmed by the scale of the fires.
“Six reservist soldiers were slightly injured by smoke inhalation and transferred to hospital to receive medical treatment,” the army said, assuring “that no human life” was in danger “at this stage “.
Leaders of the army’s Northern Command arrived overnight in Kiryat Shmona to “assess the situation” in the area.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was closely monitoring the fires.
Government spokesman David Mencer said Hezbollah attacks “caused significant fires.”
In parts of northern Israel, firefighters had been battling the fire “for nearly 24 hours in extreme weather conditions, while working to save lives and prevent property damage,” Mencer told journalists.
“This situation is not sustainable. »
Later Tuesday, Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited areas affected by the fires and said Israel was “approaching a point where a decision will have to be made.”
“Hezbollah has intensified its attacks in recent days and we are ready, after a very good training process […], to go on the offensive in the north,” he said in a statement.
Ani reported that Israeli firebombs started a fire that approached houses in the village of Alma al-Shaab on Tuesday.