The Israeli military says it has launched airstrikes on hundreds of targets in southern Lebanon, as Hezbollah launched its deepest rocket attacks into Israel since the start of the Gaza war, fuelling fears of a wider conflict.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday night it launched two wave of attacks – one attacking about 290 targets, and a second targeting 110 sites – across southern Lebanon as sirens warning of Hezbollah rocket attacks sounded in dozens of towns across northern Israel.
About 10 rockets are believed to crossed over from Lebanon, with most intercepted, the IDF said. Israel’s emergency medical services reported that a man was lightly wounded by shrapnel from a missile that was intercepted in a village in the lower Galilee.
Hezbollah posted on its Telegram channel early on Sunday morning that it had targeted the Israeli Ramat David airbase near Haifa with dozens of missiles in response to what it described as “repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon”.
The airbase is the furthest target the Lebanese group has hit in Israel since the beginning of fighting in October, about 50km from the Lebanon-Israel border.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant delivered a speech at the Ramat David airbase on Wednesday, telling air force personnel that Israel’s war with Hezbollah had reached a “new phase”. He also praised the army’s Mossad intelligence agency for its “excellent achievements” in the region, just hours after a wave of attacks struck Lebanon, striking walkie-talkies commonly held by Hezbollah members. Wednesday’s attack, in addition to a previous operation targeting pagers, left 42 dead and more than 3,000 wounded. Israel is presumed to be behind the operation, though it has not officially claimed responsibility.
In July, Hezbollah released footage filmed by a drone over the city of Haifa that highlighted Ramat David airbase, as part of an almost 10-minute long video marking military infrastructure in the densely populated city in northern Israel.
On Saturday, Israel closed its northern airspace as it awaited Hezbollah retaliation for the assassination of Ibrahim Aqil, a veteran commander of the elite Radwan unit, along with more than a dozen other militants.
Three children and seven women were among 37 people killed by the Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday that targeted the top Hezbollah leader in a densely populated neighbourhood, Lebanese authorities have said.
US and UN officials have warned against further escalation, with airlines including Air France, Turkish Airlines and Aegean cancelling flights to Beirut, reflecting fears that a tumultuous week had pushed the region closer to full-blown war.
Israel has not visibly slowed its war in Gaza to focus on the north. On Saturday its forces bombed a school turned shelter, killing at least 22 and injuring 30 others, mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said. Israel’s military said the target was a Hamas base inside the school, without providing details or evidence.
Last week, however, Israel said it was expanding its strategic aims for the Gaza war to include returning 60,0000 evacuated residents of northern Israel to their homes, which are regularly targeted by Hezbollah. It then unleashed a series of unprecedented attacks on the group.
The US state department on Saturday urged Americans in Lebanon to leave. “Due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut, the US embassy urges US citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available,” it said in an updated advisory. “At this time, commercial flights are available, but at reduced capacity. If the security situation worsens, commercial options to depart may become unavailable,” it added.
In late July, the US raised its travel advisory for Lebanon to its highest “do not travel” classification, after a strike on southern Beirut killed a Hezbollah commander.
Hezbollah began launching attacks in support of its ally Hamas after 7 October, and has indicated it will stop targeting Israel when the Gaza Strip offensive stops, unless Israel continues shelling Lebanon.
Months of missile, rocket and drone hits have killed at least 23 soldiers and 26 civilians, and in effect turned Israel’s border regions near Lebanon into a strategic buffer zone, too dangerous for ordinary life.
Inside Lebanon, more than 500 people have been killed by Israeli strikes, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups, but also more than 100 civilians.
Israel has not visibly slowed its war in Gaza to focus on the north. On Saturday its forces bombed a school turned shelter, killing at least 22 and injuring 30 others, mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said. Israel’s military said the target was a Hamas base inside the school, without providing details or evidence.
With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press