Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon early Sunday in what it said was a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah, as the militant group said it had launched hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of one of its top commanders last month.
The heavy exchange of fire threatened to trigger an all-out war that could draw in the United States, Iran and militant groups across the region. It could also torpedo efforts to forge a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, for over 10 months.
By mid-morning, it appeared that the exchange had ended, with both sides having confined their attacks to military targets. But the situation remained tense, and the full extent of casualties and damage was not immediately known.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah was planning to launch a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles toward Israel. Soon after, Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israeli military positions as an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, one of its founders, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.
The attacks came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war. Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Iran supports both groups as well as militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen who might join any larger conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the start of a Cabinet meeting, said the military had eliminated “thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel” and urged citizens to adhere to directives from the Home Front Command.
“We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us — we will harm them,” he said.
Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel's Ben-Gurion international airport closed and diverted flights for approximately an hour due to the threat of attack. Israel's Home Front Command has raised the alert level in northern Israel and encouraged people to stay near bomb shelters.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said Hezbollah had intended to hit targets in northern and central Israel. He said initial assessments found “very little damage” in Israel, but that the military remained on high alert. He said around 100 Israeli aircraft took part in Sunday's strikes.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that two people were wounded in the Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. One of them, a 17-year-old Syrian, was hospitalised, civil defence officials said. Separately, a fighter for the Amal group, which is allied with Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on a car, Amal said.
Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel and a “large number” of drones. It said the operation was targeting “a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later” as well as “enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome (missile defence) platforms.”
Hezbollah later announced the end of what it said was the first stage of retaliatory strikes, which it said would allow it to launch more attacks deeper into Israel. But a later statement said “military operations for today have been completed.”
The group said all the exploding drones it launched hit their targets, without saying how many. It listed 11 bases, barracks, and military positions that it said it targeted in northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. It also dismissed Israel's claim that its preemptive strikes had succeeded in warding off a stronger Hezbollah attack.
Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Washington, DC-based Middle East Institute, said Sunday morning's exchange was “still within the rules of engagement and unlikely at this point to lead to an all out war.”
(Source AP & The Pioneer)
