One person lightly wounded by Hezbollah rocket strike on Arab-Israeli city

On Tuesday, the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States agreed that their countries would hold direct negotiations following the first meeting between the two sides since 1993.

By JNS

One person sustained light wounds when a rocket fired by Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon hit the Arab-Israeli city of Tamra on Wednesday morning, medical officials said.

The casualty, identified as a 61-year-old man, suffered shrapnel wounds and was evacuated for treatment at Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus, according to the Magen David Adom medical emergency response group.

Another person suffering an anxiety attack due to the rocket impact was also transported to the hospital, MDA said.

Hezbollah terrorists on Wednesday morning launched a string of attacks targeting Israel’s Upper and Western Galilee, including one heavy barrage that saw some 30 rockets fired in under 40 minutes, Channel 12 News reported.

Air-raid sirens were activated from the town of Metula on the Jewish state’s northeast border with Lebanon to the Galilee coastal city of Acre, according to the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and suicide drones at Israel on March 2 in retaliation for the Jewish state’s targeted killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the opening strikes of “Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury” against the Islamic Republic on Feb. 28.

In response to the terrorist organization’s violation of the U.S.-brokered Nov. 27, 2024, truce agreement, Jerusalem launched an aerial campaign against Hezbollah and ordered the IDF to take control of additional areas in Southern Lebanon to halt cross-border attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on April 9 that Lebanon had requested direct negotiations with Israel aimed at disarming Hezbollah.

On Tuesday, the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States agreed that their countries would hold direct negotiations following the first meeting between the two sides since 1993.

After more than two hours of talks that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted in Washington, D.C., Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said that the most important outcome of Tuesday’s negotiations was that Jerusalem and Beirut are “on the same side of the equation.”

“We are both united in liberating Lebanon from an occupation power dominated by Iran called Hezbollah,” said Leiter.

“Lebanon is under their occupation, and we are suffering from their constant barrages of missiles and terror attacks trying to cross our border.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stated after the meeting that he hoped the talks mark “the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people.”

“The only solution lies in the Lebanese army re-deploying up to the internationally recognized border, and so being solely responsible for the security of the area and the safety of its residents, without the partnership of any other party,” said Aoun.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Monday urged Aoun to cancel the talks, which he described as “stabbing the resistance in the back.”

“Israel and the United States have openly stated they want to strengthen the army to disarm Hezbollah, fight it, dismantle its institutions and eliminate the resistance, its people and all who support it,” said Qassem, according to a translation by Iran’s official Press TV outlet.

“They want the [Lebanese] army to fight its own people—something the army cannot and will not do.”

Hezbollah “will neither calm down nor surrender, and the battlefield will speak,” he warned, calling on Aoun to “confront the [Israeli] aggression together; afterward, we can agree on the future.”

Rejecting negotiations with Jerusalem as “futile and humiliating,” Qassem said Hezbollah would “remain steadfast, keep our heads held high and liberate the land.”