Israel strikes targets in Lebanon as Hezbollah launches deepest rocket attacks since start of Gaza war
Israel strikes targets in Lebanon as Hezbollah launches deepest rocket attacks since start of Gaza war
(about 2 hours later)
Israeli military says its jets targeted hundreds of Hezbollah sites on Saturday, while Hezbollah says it launched dozens of missiles at an airbase in northern Israel
Israeli military says its jets targeted hundreds of Hezbollah sites, while Hezbollah says it launched dozens of missiles at an airbase in northern Israel
The Israeli military says it has launched airstrikes on hundreds of targets in southern Lebanon, as Hezbollah launched its deepest rocket attacks into Israel since the start of the Gaza war, fuelling fears of a wider conflict.
The Israeli military says it has launched airstrikes on hundreds of targets in southern Lebanon, as Hezbollah launched its deepest rocket attacks into Israel since the start of the Gaza war, prompting a UN official to warn of “imminent catastrophe” in the region.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday night it launched two wave of attacks – one attacking about 290 targets, and a second targeting 110 sites – across southern Lebanon as sirens warning of Hezbollah rocket attacks sounded in dozens of towns across northern Israel.
Fighting reached its most intense yet overnight, with Israel launching a wave of attacks that it said targeted Hezbollah missile launchers across Lebanon’s south. At least one person was killed and another injured in the strikes, the Lebanese ministry of health said.
Fresh clashes erupted early on Sunday, with the IDF saying more than 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon, with some landing near the northern city of Haifa. The Israeli military said rockets had been fired “toward civilian areas”, pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.
Hezbollah responded with four rocket barrages early on Sunday morning and more than 140 rockets and drones fired into Israel’s Jezreel Valley.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated four people for shrapnel wounds, including a 76-year-old man who was moderately wounded near Haifa, where buildings were damaged and cars set on fire. It was not immediately clear if the damage was caused by a rocket or an Israeli interceptor.
Fresh clashes erupted early on Sunday, with the IDF saying hundreds of rockets had been fired into Israel from Lebanon, with some landing near the northern city of Haifa.
Earlier, Hezbollah posted on its Telegram channel that it had targeted the Israeli Ramat David airbase near Haifa on Saturday night with dozens of missiles in response to what it described as “repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon”.
The Israeli military said rockets had been fired “toward civilian areas”, pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it had treated four people for shrapnel wounds, including a 76-year-old man who was slightly wounded near Haifa.
The airbase is the furthest target the Lebanese group has hit in Israel since the beginning of fighting in October, about 50km from the Lebanon-Israel border.
In a statement, the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon warned the region risked disaster.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant delivered a speech at the Ramat David airbase on Wednesday, telling air force personnel that Israel’s war with Hezbollah had reached a “new phase”. He also praised the army’s Mossad intelligence agency for its “excellent achievements” in the region, just hours after a wave of attacks struck Lebanon, striking walkie-talkies commonly held by Hezbollah members. Wednesday’s attack, in addition to a previous operation targeting pagers, left 42 dead and more than 3,000 wounded. Israel is presumed to be behind the operation, though it has not officially claimed responsibility.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” special coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said on X.
In July, Hezbollah released footage filmed by a drone over the city of Haifa that highlighted Ramat David airbase, as part of an almost 10-minute long video marking military infrastructure in the densely populated city in northern Israel.
As she wrote, the Israeli health ministry urged hospitals in northern Israel to transfer their operations to facilities with extra protection from rocket and missile fire. Rambam hospital in Haifa would transfer patients to its underground, secure facility, the ministry said.
Israel’s civil defence agency ordered all schools in the north of the country to close.
The successive barrages of rocket attacks launched by Hezbollah at the Israeli air force’s Ramat David airbase, located 31 miles (50km) from the Lebanon border, were the deepest strikes it has claimed since hostilities began.
The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, delivered a speech at the airbase on Wednesday, telling air force personnel that Israel’s war with Hezbollah had reached a “new phase”.
In July, Hezbollah released footage filmed by a drone over Haifa that highlighted Ramat David as part of an almost 10-minute long video marking military infrastructure in the densely populated city in northern Israel.
On Saturday, Israel closed its northern airspace as it awaited Hezbollah retaliation for the assassination of Ibrahim Aqil, a veteran commander of the elite Radwan unit, along with more than a dozen other militants.
On Saturday, Israel closed its northern airspace as it awaited Hezbollah retaliation for the assassination of Ibrahim Aqil, a veteran commander of the elite Radwan unit, along with more than a dozen other militants.
Three children and seven women were among 37 people killed by the Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday that targeted the top Hezbollah leader in a densely populated neighbourhood, Lebanese authorities have said.
Three children and seven women were among 37 people killed by the Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday that targeted the top Hezbollah leader, Lebanese authorities have said.
US and UN officials have warned against further escalation, with airlines including Air France, Turkish Airlines and Aegean cancelling flights to Beirut, reflecting fears that a tumultuous week had pushed the region closer to full-blown war.
The assassination followed a wave of attacks earlier in the week in which walkie-talkies and pagers commonly used by Hezbollah members exploded, killing 42 people and wounding more than 3,000. Israel is presumed to be behind the operation, though it has not officially claimed responsibility.
Israel has not visibly slowed its war in Gaza to focus on the north. On Saturday its forces bombed a school turned shelter, killing at least 22 and injuring 30 others, mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said. Israel’s military said the target was a Hamas base inside the school, without providing details or evidence.
Israel has not visibly slowed its war in Gaza to focus on the north. On Saturday, its forces bombed a school-turned-shelter, killing at least 22 and injuring 30 others, mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said. Israel’s military said the target was a Hamas base inside the school, without providing details or evidence.
Last week, however, Israel said it was expanding its strategic aims for the Gaza war to include returning 60,0000 evacuated residents of northern Israel to their homes, which are regularly targeted by Hezbollah. It then unleashed a series of unprecedented attacks on the group.
However, the most recent attacks suggest a potential strategic pivot by the Israeli military away from its focus on Hamas in Gaza and towards targeting Hezbollah.
The US state department on Saturday urged Americans in Lebanon to leave. “Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, the US embassy urges US citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available,” it said in an updated advisory. “At this time, commercial flights are available, but at reduced capacity. If the security situation worsens, commercial options to depart may become unavailable,” it added.
An Iraqi coalition of pro-Iran armed groups also claimed a drone attack on Israel.
In late July, the US raised its travel advisory for Lebanon to its highest “do not travel” classification, after a strike on southern Beirut killed a Hezbollah commander.
“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq targeted on Sunday morning a strategic location in the occupied territories using drones,” said the Iraqi coalition in a statement on Telegram, referring to Israel, adding it was carried out “in support of our people in Gaza”.
Hezbollah began launching attacks in support of its ally Hamas after 7 October, and has indicated it will stop targeting Israel when the Gaza Strip offensive stops, unless Israel continues shelling Lebanon.
The IDF confirmed the attack and said it had intercepted “multiple suspicious aerial targets” coming from Iraq overnight.
Months of missile, rocket and drone hits have killed at least 23 soldiers and 26 civilians, and in effect turned Israel’s border regions near Lebanon into a strategic buffer zone, too dangerous for ordinary life.
Inside Lebanon, more than 500 people have been killed by Israeli strikes, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups, but also more than 100 civilians.
Israel has not visibly slowed its war in Gaza to focus on the north. On Saturday its forces bombed a school turned shelter, killing at least 22 and injuring 30 others, mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said. Israel’s military said the target was a Hamas base inside the school, without providing details or evidence.
