Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group said it had fired waves of rockets and drones at the Israeli army on Thursday after an Israeli strike killed one of its senior commanders.
The major attack comes after months of near-daily cross-border fire between the group and the Israeli military since Hezbollah ally Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.
Hezbollah fighters launched “an attack with rockets and drones, targeting six barracks and military sites”, while simultaneously flying “squadrons of explosive-laden drones” at three other Israeli bases, the group said in a statement. One of the targets was an Israeli base that the militants said housed an intelligence headquarters “responsible for the assassinations”.
Hezbollah, which announced more strikes into the evening, said the attacks were “part of the response to the assassination” of its commander Taleb Abdallah on Tuesday. The Israeli army said during the afternoon that about “40 projectiles were launched toward the Galilee and Golan Heights area”, adding most were intercepted, while some ignited fires.
In one attack near the border village of Manara, “one IDF (army) soldier was moderately injured and an additional soldier was lightly injured”, the military said. The Israeli government said it would respond strongly to all Hezbollah attacks.
“Israel will respond with force to all aggressions by Hezbollah,” government spokesman David Mencer said during a press briefing, vowing to “restore security on our northern border”. Later, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli “warplanes launched a raid targeting a house” in the town of Janata, killing one civilian and injuring seven others.
In recent weeks, cross-border exchanges have escalated, with Hezbollah stepping up its use of drones to attack Israeli army positions and Israel hitting back with targeted strikes against the militants. On Wednesday, top Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine vowed the group would “increase the intensity, strength, quantity and quality of our attacks”, while speaking at Abdallah’s funeral.
The Israeli army confirmed it carried out the strike that “eliminated” Abdallah on Tuesday, describing him as “one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders in southern Lebanon”. A Lebanese military source said he was the “most important” Hezbollah commander to have been killed since the start of the war.
The cross-border violence has killed at least 468 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 89 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israeli authorities say at least 15 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.
Addressing the situation along the border — which France has been making diplomatic efforts to contain since January — French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that his country, the United States and Israel would work together to ease tensions in the area.
Speaking at a G7 summit in Italy, Macron said the three countries would “move forward on the road map that we have proposed. We will do the same with the Lebanese authorities.” The French proposal involves halting attacks on both sides and militants withdrawing 10 kilometres from the border, according to Lebanese officials.
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