United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon urge de-escalation after heavy airstrikes

The year-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is the worst since they fought a war in 2006

Lebanese soldiers and firefighters gather outside a mobile shop after what is believed to be the result of a walkie-talkie exploding inside it, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, September 18, 2024.

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon urged immediate de-escalation as hostilities rumbled on at the Lebanese-Israeli border on Friday, following Israel's most intense airstrikes in nearly a year of conflict with the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israel's military said on Thursday it had struck hundreds of Hezbollah rocket launchers that had been set to fire towards Israel, in what security sources in Lebanon said was the heaviest such attack since hostilities began last October.