In a dramatic escalation of tensions, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launched a barrage of missiles at a military base deep inside Israel early Sunday. This action came in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike the previous day that claimed the lives of at least 37 people, including a senior Hezbollah leader and women and children. The rockets’ impact remains unclear, but Israel’s emergency medical services reported a man sustaining minor shrapnel injuries from a missile intercepted in a village in the lower Galilee. Local media reported that rockets fired from Lebanon were intercepted in the areas of Haifa and Nazareth. The Israeli military confirmed monitoring the launch of “about ten rockets” from Lebanon, with most intercepted.
Hezbollah, in a statement, declared that it had launched “dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles” – a novel weapon the group had not previously used – targeting the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa. The group asserted that this attack was “in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs.” In July, Hezbollah had released footage captured by surveillance drones, purportedly showing the base.
The escalation follows a cycle of violence over the past few days. On Saturday, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in heavy fire as rescue crews in Beirut searched the wreckage of an apartment building demolished by the Israeli strike the day before. Hezbollah had vowed revenge against Israel for a series of remote detonations targeting pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members on Tuesday and Wednesday. These attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 37 people, including two children, and injured around 3,000. Israel, while not confirming or denying responsibility, has been widely blamed for these explosions.
Friday’s airstrike, targeting an eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs, claimed the lives of several prominent Hezbollah figures, including Ibrahim Akil, a top Hezbollah official who led the group’s special forces unit, the Radwan Force. Also killed was Ahmed Wahbi, a senior commander in the group’s military wing. Israel claimed that Hezbollah members were meeting in the building’s basement when the strike occurred. Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, confirmed that at least seven women and three children were killed in the strike, along with 68 injured, including 15 hospitalized. The strike was the deadliest in Beirut since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, and the death toll could rise as 23 individuals remain missing.
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, justified the strike as an attempt to disrupt Hezbollah’s command structure and eliminate Akil, whom he accused of being responsible for Israeli deaths and listed on the U.S. wanted list for years. He declared, “This is our commitment to the fallen and their loved ones. This is our commitment to the residents of the north. And this is a clear message to all those who seek to harm us.”
The Israeli government anticipated a surge in Hezbollah rocket attacks and implemented restrictions in the north of the country near the Lebanese border, including limits on gatherings and other measures. The Israeli military confirmed that about 90 rockets were fired at northern Israel, and that Israel had struck more than 400 rocket launchers in Lebanon throughout the day. In response to the escalating rocket attacks, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli defense spokesman, announced updated safety guidelines for areas north of Haifa, including restrictions on gatherings of 30 people in open spaces and 300 in enclosed spaces. Work and school activities could continue if individuals could reach protected areas promptly. However, with some students and teachers unable to reach shelters within the required timeframe, Sunday classes were canceled in at least two border regions.
Earlier this week, Israel’s security cabinet declared that halting Hezbollah’s attacks on the country’s north, which would enable displaced residents to return to their homes, is now an official war goal. Israel is contemplating a wider military operation in Lebanon, which could potentially ignite a full-scale conflict. Israel has already deployed a significant fighting force to its northern border.
Hezbollah has insisted that it will cease its strikes only when a ceasefire is reached between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. While Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire regularly since Hamas’ October 7 assault on southern Israel triggered the Israeli military’s offensive in Gaza, previous cross-border attacks have mainly targeted evacuated areas in northern Israel and sparsely populated regions of southern Lebanon.
The Israeli strike on Friday followed one of Hezbollah’s most intense bombardments of northern Israel in nearly a year of fighting, primarily targeting Israeli military sites. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted most of the Katyusha rockets. Hezbollah claimed its latest rocket barrage was a response to Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon. However, the attack came days after a series of explosions targeting Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies, killing at least 37 people, including two children, and injuring approximately 3,000 others. Abiad, the Lebanese health minister, stated on Saturday that hospitals across the country were overwhelmed with the injured. The pager and walkie-talkie attacks have been widely attributed to Israel, though the country has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. These attacks represent a significant escalation in the 11 months of simmering conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border.
