Hezbollah says it targeted Israel’s Ramat David air base with dozens of rockets
Israel exchanged And Hezbollah Heavy gunfire erupted Sunday as Israeli warplanes carried out their heaviest bombardment in nearly a year of war across southern Lebanon while the group claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on military targets in northern Israel.
Earlier today, Hezbollah announced that it had targeted with dozens of missiles military industrial complexes belonging to an Israeli company north of the city of Haifa, in an “initial response” to the bombing of thousands of communications devices that were in the possession of its members earlier this week.
The party said in a statement, “In an initial response to the brutal massacre committed by the Israeli enemy in various Lebanese regions on Tuesday and Wednesday (the Pager and wireless devices massacre), the Islamic Resistance bombed the military industries complexes of the Rafael company, which specializes in electronic means and equipment, and is located in the Zevulun area north of Haifa, with dozens of Fadi 1, Fadi 2, and Katyusha missiles.”
More than 100 missiles
In contrast, the Israeli army announced that more than a hundred rockets were launched from Lebanon on Sunday morning, and firefighting teams were working to extinguish fires that broke out as a result, hours after it launched intensive air strikes against Hezbollah targets.
The army also reported that rockets were fired overnight. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said in a statement that four people were injured by shrapnel.
In addition, the army indicated in a statement that “two suspicious aerial targets were intercepted on their way from Iraq without causing any casualties,” stressing that “they did not violate Israeli airspace.”
290 goals
He said The Israeli army said it struck about 290 targets. Saturday, including thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers, adding that it would continue to strike targets of the Iran-backed movement.
Israel closed schools and imposed restrictions on gatherings in several northern areas of the country and the occupied Golan Heights early Sunday morning.
The army said sirens sounded throughout the night after numerous rockets and missiles were fired from Lebanon and Iraq, most of which were intercepted by Israeli air defence systems.
Israeli media reported that a number of buildings were hit directly or as a result of falling missile debris, and ambulance services said they treated some of the injured with minor injuries.
Targeting Ramat David base
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it targeted Israel’s Ramat David air base with dozens of rockets in response to “repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon,” the group posted on its Telegram channel early Sunday morning.
The successive rocket attacks launched by Hezbollah on Ramat David are the deepest strikes it has announced since the start of hostilities.
Iranian-backed Iraqi militias claimed responsibility for an explosive-laden drone attack on Israel early Sunday morning, in a statement.
Escalation of attacks
The escalating attacks come less than 48 hours after an Israeli airstrike targeted Hezbollah leaders, killing at least 37 people in a suburb of the Lebanese capital, according to authorities.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said 16 members, including senior commander Ibrahim Aqil and another commander, Ahmed Wehbe, were among those killed on Friday in the deadliest strike in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.
The Israeli military said it struck an underground gathering of Aqeel and leaders of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces, and that it had succeeded in almost completely dismantling his military chain of command.
Hezbollah mourns the commander of the party’s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil. AFP
A security source said the attack destroyed a multi-storey residential building in the crowded suburb and damaged a nearby nursery. Lebanon’s health ministry said three children and seven women were among the dead.
Friday’s attack sharply escalated the conflict and dealt another blow to Hezbollah after two days of attacks that blew up pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members.
The death toll from the attacks, widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, has risen to 39 dead and more than 3,000 wounded. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
In what it said was an initial response to the explosive device attacks, Hezbollah posted on its Telegram channel on Sunday that it had fired rockets at Israeli military-industrial facilities.
The Israeli army said in a statement that the quick response came by striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
For his part, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he was concerned about the escalation, but that Israel’s assassination of a senior Hezbollah leader had brought justice to the group, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization.
“While the risk of escalation is real, we do believe that there is also a clear path to a cessation of hostilities and a lasting solution that makes people on both sides of the border feel safe,” Sullivan told reporters.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati cancelled a planned trip to attend the UN General Assembly meetings in New York.
Israel prepares to respond
Hezbollah has said it will continue fighting Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Palestinian Gaza Strip – which erupted after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7.
American officials say that is unlikely anytime soon. Israel wants Hezbollah to cease fire and withdraw its forces from the border area, in accordance with a 2006 U.N. resolution with Israel, regardless of any agreement on Gaza.
In anticipation of retaliation, the Israeli military has imposed restrictions on gatherings and raised the alert level for residents of northern towns. The alert has reached as far south as the coastal city of Haifa, indicating that Israel believes Hezbollah may strike deeper than it has since the war with Hamas began.
In southern Lebanon, people on Saturday spoke of huge explosions that lit up the night sky and shook the ground as Israel carried out its latest strikes.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who said last week that Israel was launching a new phase of the war on the northern border, said on X: “The series of actions in the new phase will continue until we achieve our goal: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
Tens of thousands of people have left their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.
A statement from the US summit hosted by President Joe Biden with the leaders of Japan, India and Australia stressed the need to prevent “the Gaza war from escalating and spreading in the region” but did not specifically mention the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
With at least 70 people killed in Lebanon over the past week, the death toll from the country’s conflict since October has passed 740 during the worst escalation between Israel and Hezbollah since the 2006 war.
