Dozens of Hezbollah rockets were fired at northern Israel on Thursday. It was one of the largest shelling from Lebanon since 7 October, Israeli media reports.
The IDF says some 35 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel. Hezbollah claimed responsibility and said it fired 48 rockets at an army base near Safed.
Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for several anti-tank guided missile and mortar attacks on various targets in northern Israel, including a strike on Kibbutz Menara in the Upper Galilee that damaged several buildings.
More than 80 rockets, missiles and mortars were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel by mid-afternoon. In response to the initial shelling, the IDF used aircraft and Iron Sting guided mortars to strike rocket launchers. The ongoing attacks were followed by airstrikes by fighter jets and attack helicopters against “terrorist infrastructure” and rocket launch sites in Lebanon. Separately, a drone, helicopter and tanks struck a Hezbollah cell firing an anti-tank missile at Biranit base.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen spoke out twice this week against Hezbollah’s continued attacks on Israel, telling the UN Security Council on Tuesday that Hezbollah must be disarmed and withdrawn from southern Lebanon to avoid escalation of the current war. He made similar comments to foreign journalists on Wednesday.
Hezbollah’s intense attacks on Israel came after the IDF killed five Hezbollah fighters late Wednesday night, including the son of a Hezbollah MP and the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas began on 7 October, in which thousands of terrorists have killed some 1,200 people in Israel and taken some 240 hostages, the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border has also escalated. Daily firefights and attacks with Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups have raised fears that the fighting will become more widespread.
According to AFP, 107 people have been killed on the Lebanese side since the start of cross-border shelling. That number includes at least 14 civilians, including three journalists.
