Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Islamist faction in Lebanon, claimed to have launched drone strikes on two facilities in northern Israel on Tuesday in retribution for the death of a fighter Israel deemed to be “significant.” Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging gunfire across the border almost every day since Hamas’s historic onslaught on Israel on October 7 that set off the Gaza War.
Nonetheless, Hezbollah has increased the number of missile strikes it has launched on Israeli positions in recent days; the most recent attack was directed at a location outside the group’s typical striking zone. In a statement, Hezbollah claimed to have carried out “a combined air attack using decoy and explosive drones that targeted” two Israeli bases north of Acre; Israel, however, said the targets were not reached.
According to the Lebanese group, the attack was carried out “in response” to an Israeli drone strike that claimed the life of one of its members earlier in the day in south Lebanon. “Successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast,” the Israeli army declared.
A Hezbollah official told the media on Tuesday morning that an Israeli drone strike deep inside Lebanon killed an engineer working for the group’s air defence forces while he was travelling in a vehicle. About 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the border, in the Abu al-Aswad neighborhood of Tyre, was where the strike occurred. The fighter’s car was totally destroyed in the strike.
Hezbollah claimed that one of its militants had been killed by Israeli gunfire and that he lived in the neighborhood where the car was hit. In a statement released overnight, the group alleged that Israel had also murdered another fighter.
The Israeli army had earlier on Tuesday claimed to have killed “two significant terrorists in Hezbollah’s aerial unit” during the course of the previous day and night. “Heavily involved in the planning and execution of terrorist attacks against Israel,” the statement said, described the fighter who was killed on Tuesday.
Both parties claimed that Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone on Sunday night. At least 378 people have died in Lebanon since October 7, the majority of whom were Hezbollah combatants but also 70 civilians. On its side of the border, Israel reports that eight civilians and eleven troops have died.
