Hezbollah launches dozens of rockets at Israeli base in retaliation

Israeli military says about 35 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon, successfully intercepted most of them

BEIRUT:

Hezbollah said it fired “dozens” of rockets on Thursday at a military base in northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Lebanon, one of which killed a fighter from the Iran-backed group.

Fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah have risen in recent weeks as threats have intensified between the sides, who have traded regular cross-border fire since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel which sparked war in the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah said that “in response to the enemy attacks that targeted the city of Nabatiyeh and the village of Sohmor”, its fighters bombed “the main air and missile defence base of the northern area command… with dozens of Katyusha rockets”.

The Lebanon-based group claimed two other attacks on Israeli troops and positions on Thursday, including one with drones, while the official National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli attacks in several areas of south Lebanon.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “approximately 35 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon”. Air defences “successfully intercepted most of the launches. No injuries were reported,” it added. The military also said separately that “two UAVs (drones) that were identified crossing from Lebanon fell” in northern Israel, reporting no injuries.

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The NNA said on Thursday that an Israeli strike a day earlier in south Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh wounded “more than 20” people when a two-story building was targeted. Hezbollah said a fighter from Sohmor had been killed after the NNA reported that an “enemy” drone targeted a motorbike in the village in the country’s east.

The Israeli military said a Hezbollah operative was “eliminated” in a raid in the Sohmor area, also reporting strikes in south Lebanon.

Fears have grown the Gaza war could become a regional conflagration if the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, which so far has been largely limited to the border area, expands.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to Washington on Wednesday that his country did not want war in Lebanon, but could send it back to the “Stone Age” if diplomacy failed.

Amid Western diplomatic efforts to dial down tensions in recent months, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday visited Beirut and cautioned that “miscalculation” could trigger all-out war, also urging “extreme restraint”.

The violence has killed 482 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 94 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to authorities.