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Israel and Hezbollah carried out one of the most intense episodes of fighting since the start of the war in Gaza on Sunday, after a night of “preemptive attacks” by the Israeli army on southern Lebanon that failed to prevent more than 300 more rockets from Lebanese Shiite militias firing into Israel a few hours later, under a state of emergency which will continue for the next 48 hours under orders from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The exchange, which has so far left no confirmed victims, was almost simultaneously and started around 05:00 in the morning when more than a hundred Israeli warplanes attacked several sites in southern Lebanon in an operation to destroy Hezbollah rocket launch sites that the army said were They were planned to be used in a large-scale attack on central and northern Israel.

Hezbollah launched its attack at almost the same time as the Israeli bombing began. at least 320 missiles and drones in an operation the militias called the “first phase” of retaliation for the death of commander Fouad Sukre last month in an Israeli-backed airstrike on the capital, Beirut.

The offensive, according to Hezbollah, was directed against at least a dozen Israeli military positions and bases They are spread along the northern border of Israel, which has confirmed the presence of at least 210 missiles and twenty drones on radar.

Already in the midst of the shootout, the Israeli Defense Minister declared a state of emergency which gives the army the power to “give instructions to Israeli citizens, such as restricting gatherings and closing places when necessary.”

Ben Gurion International Airport, the most important in the country, is located on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. It was closed for several hours. in order to protect national airspace.

In the midst of a “preventive strike,” the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds emergency meeting with security chiefs where the main provisions of this emergency were set forth, accompanied by a solemn warning from the President: “We are determined to do everything in our power to defend our country, to return the people of the north safely to their homes, and to follow the simple rule: “Whoever harms us, we will do the same to him.”

In turn, the Prime Minister of Lebanon Naib Mikati, called this Sunday immediate implementation of UN resolutions, during an emergency meeting called this morning with his ministers to assess the overlap of attacks.

“What is needed First, stop Israel’s aggression. and then immediately implement those resolutions,” Mikati said in comments published by the newspaper. Al Jumhuria.

The meeting also discussed issues the critical energy security situation the country is experiencing, a scenario of ongoing supply cuts that have worsened in recent days and the expectation of the arrival of an Algerian oil tanker with 30,000 tons of fuel to ease the situation.