The Israeli military reported that it targeted a rocket launcher in southern Lebanon following an intense barrage of 90 rockets fired into Israel from the area, injuring three people. Sirens blared in Haifa and other northern regions, urging residents to take shelter from the incoming rockets. Hezbollah militants in Lebanon launched the projectiles in a span of about five minutes, prompting the Israeli military to respond with “a series of dozens of airstrikes.”
A statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said one missile was intercepted and destroyed on its way to the Krayot, a cluster of towns north of Haifa. The other two rockets were intercepted before they reached Israeli territory. The IDF said it was expanding the scope of its airstrikes to include areas along Lebanon’s border with Syria, Xinhua news agency reported.
The IDF said the airstrikes were targeting Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the area, including an observation post and a command center, as well as tunnels and bunkers where rockets were stored. The IDF also targeted Hezbollah’s ballistic missile capability, the statement said.
Hezbollah is a powerful Shia Muslim organization that has become a significant player in the Middle East. The group is allied with Iran and is classed as a terrorist organization by countries such as the United States. The group is believed to have up to 120,000 fighters, and its military wing has a wide range of weaponry, including long-range rockets.
A recent barrage of Hezbollah rockets on Israel’s northern suburbs caused panic and evacuations as the threat of war escalated. Many residents of Metula, a town in northern Galilee that Lebanon surrounds on three sides, were evacuated in October 2023, although security officials and agricultural workers remain. The town’s mayor said Hezbollah had been firing projectiles at civilian areas for weeks.
Israeli military officials have warned that a full-scale conflict with Hezbollah could erupt and that it might spread across the Middle East. Israel’s focus on Gaza and its subsequent escalation of strikes against Hezbollah have heightened those fears.
The IDF has carried out hundreds of strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since the beginning of this month. It is the most extensive campaign against the group in history, with 250 jets dropping 2,000 munitions.
The Israeli military has also been pounding Houthi military targets in Yemen. Houthi-backed forces control Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, and a large portion of the country. The conflict in Yemen has been dubbed the civil war, but it is a proxy fight between Hezbollah and Sunni rebels backed by Saudi Arabia. The fighting has killed thousands of civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands more. The conflict has drawn in Shia Muslim militias from across the Middle East, including some from Iraq and Syria that are not affiliated with Hezbollah. It has exacerbated regional tensions, with Saudi Arabia calling for an end to the violence and saying that it will not mediate.
