Hezbollah launches missile barrage at Israel to avenge top commander

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Hezbollah launches missile barrage at ******* to avenge top commander

Smoke billows from the site of an ******** airstrike on Zibqin in southern Lebanon on August 25, 2024, amid escalations in the ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between ******* and ****** militants in the Gaza Strip.

Kawnat Haju | Afp | Getty Images

Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones against ******* on Sunday in retaliation for the ************** of a senior commander in Beirut last month, the Iranian-backed movement said, as *******’s cabinet met to prepare a response.

******** jets hit targets in Lebanon shortly before the strikes as the military assessed that Hezbollah was preparing to begin the barrage, the military said.

Hezbollah said it had launched more than 320 Katyusha rockets towards ******* and hit 11 military targets. It said the barrage had completed “the first phase” of its response to the ************** of Fuad Shukr, a senior commander, in Beirut but that the full response would take “some time”.

Expectations of an escalation between the two sides had risen since a missile strike in the ********-occupied Golan Heights last month ******* 12 youngsters and the ******** military assassinated Shukr in Beirut in response.

U.S. sends more forces and military hardware to the Middle East in anticipation of Iranian ******* on *******

*******’s cabinet was to meet at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced.

Foreign Minister ******* Katz said ******* would respond to developments on the ground but did not seek a full-scale war. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said ******* would do whatever necessary to defend itself.

“We have conducted precise strikes in Lebanon in order to thwart an imminent threat against the citizens of *******. We are closely following developments in Beirut, and we are determined to use all the means at our disposal in order to defend our citizens,” Gallant said in a statement.

A Hezbollah UAV flies over north ******* on August 25, 2024. 

Jalaa Marey | Afp | Getty Images

Most of the ******** strikes were hitting targets in southern Lebanon but the military was ready to strike anywhere there was a threat, an ******** military spokesperson said.

Gallant declared a state of emergency, and flights to and from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv were suspended for around 90 minutes, but the airports authority said normal operations were expected to resume by 7 a.m.

In northern *******, warning sirens sounded and multiple explosions were heard around several areas as *******’s Iron Dome aerial defence system shot down rockets coming from southern Lebanon. *******’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said it was on high alert all over the country.

The ******** military issued civil defence instructions from central ******* to the north, limiting gatherings but authorising people to go to work as long as they were able to reach air raid shelters quickly. There were no casualties immediately reported in *******, according to the ambulance service.

Fears of regional conflict

A security source in Lebanon said at least 40 ******** strikes had hit various towns in the country’s south in one of the densest bombardments since hostilities began in October.

A boy runs past cars destroyed in a recent ******** strike on August 24, 2024 Mays Al-Jabal, Lebanon.

Chris Mcgrath | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A resident of the southern Lebanese town of Zibqeen, some 7 km (4 miles) from the border, told Reuters it was the first time he had awakened “to the sound of planes and the loud explosions of rockets – even before the dawn prayer. It felt like the apocalypse.”

*******’s Army Radio, citing defence officials, said the military assessed that Hezbollah had been preparing to ***** hundreds of missiles into central ******* in an ******* planned for 5 a.m.

Around 100 ******** jets foiled the Hezbollah missile strikes, beginning their ******* half an hour beforehand, the report said, adding that the military assessed the subsequent Hezbollah barrage was “improvised”.

“Dozens of (******** Air Force) jets are currently striking targets in various locations in southern Lebanon. We are continuing to remove threats, and to intensively strike against the Hezbollah ********** organization,” said a military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

The *******-Hezbollah escalation has drawn fears of a wider regional conflict, potentially involving both the ******* States and Iran. President Joe Biden was following events closely, the White House said.

A Hezbollah UAV is intercepted by ******** air forces over north ******* on August 25, 2024. 

Jalaa Marey | Afp | Getty Images

“At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their ******** counterparts. We will keep supporting *******’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability,” said National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett.

The strikes came as negotiators were meeting in Cairo in a last-ditch effort to conclude a halt to fighting in Gaza and a return of ******** and foreign hostages in exchange for ************ prisoners.

Hezbollah fired missiles at ******* immediately after the Oct. 7 attacks by ****** gunmen on *******. Hezbollah and ******* have been exchanging ***** constantly ever since, while avoiding a major escalation as war rages in Gaza to the south.

That precarious balance appeared to shift after the strike in the Golan Heights, for which Hezbollah denied responsibility, and the subsequent ************** of Shukr, one of Hezbollah’s most senior military commanders in Beirut.

Shukr’s ****** in an air strike was quickly followed by the ************** of ****** political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which led to vows of reprisal against ******* by Iran.

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