Israeli forces launched fresh strikes on Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon on October 15 after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed no mercy for the Iran-backed militant group.
Multiple Israeli strikes targeted Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, taking a hospital in the city of Baalbek out of service, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.
SEE ALSO: Living Under The Threat Of Hezbollah Rockets In Northern IsraelThe strikes came as Netanyahu vowed a ruthless response to a Hezbollah drone strike that killed four Israeli soldiers in central Israel on October 13.
Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to the military base where the four soldiers were killed, said Israel would continue to strike the group "without mercy, everywhere in Lebanon -- including Beirut."
Hezbollah -- which is considered a terrorist group by the United States, although the EU has only blacklisted its armed wing, and not the political party -- controls much of southern Lebanon.
The Hezbollah attack on the Israeli army base in the town of Binyamina was one of the bloodiest since October last year and employed a "swarm" of drones that were difficult to locate and destroy by the Israeli air defenses.
Israel's sophisticated air defenses have usually shot down Hezbollah's rockets without problems.
Following the deadly Hezbollah strike, Israeli strikes killed 41 people and injured 124 in Lebanon on October 14, the Health Ministry said. More than half of the victims were killed in the northern village of Aito, which lies outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.
Israel said it “struck a target belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” but the UN's human rights office in Geneva called for an independent investigation.
“We have real concerns with respect to…the laws of war,” said Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the human rights office. Laurence said the UN had received credible reports that a dozen women and children were among the dead.
In a televised speech on October 15, Hezbollah’s acting leader declared that the group is focused on “hurting the enemy” by targeting Haifa and other parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, vowed to “defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands.”
Separately, Netanyahu's office said in a statement on October 15 that he will take into account the position of the United States -- Israel's main ally -- but will have his country's own "national interests" as a top priority as it ponders a response to a massive Iranian attack earlier this month.
"We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest," his office said in a statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Israel that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid it is allowing into Gaza within the next 30 days or it could risk losing access to U.S. weapons funding.
The warning came in a letter to their Israeli counterparts dated October 13 that restates U.S. policy toward humanitarian aid and arms transfers.
A senior U.S. defense official said on October 15 that Blinken and Austin sent the letter as they saw a recent decrease in assistance reaching Gaza. The official said a similar letter sent by Blinken in April triggered “concrete measures from the Israelis.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the latest letter was a way to similarly address the problem.
Fears of an all-out regional war grew as signs indicated Israel could be preparing to launch a direct strike on Iran in retaliation for Tehran's strike on October 1.
U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Netanyahu against striking Iran's nuclear or oil facilities to avoid a further escalation of the conflict.
On October 13, Biden announced that he had ordered the Pentagon to send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and troops to Israel as part of U.S. efforts to defend its ally.