The attack was believed to be a response to Israeli strikes on terror targets near the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek in northern Lebanon.
(JNS)
Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon took responsibility for launching a large barrage of rockets towards the Golan Heights in northern Israel on Sunday morning, according to local reports.
Ynet said the Iran-backed terrorist group fired 30 rockets at the northern Golan Heights, causing no damage or casualties. The attack was believed to be a response to Saturday’s Israeli Air Force strikes on terror targets near Baalbek, northern Lebanon, some 62 miles from the border.
The Israel Defense Forces struck the Hezbollah stronghold in the Bekaa Valley after the terrorist group shot down a military drone with a surface-to-air missile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
“One of our UAVs was downed in Lebanon, and our forces responded deep in Lebanon, in the Bekaa Valley, in Baalbek,” Netanyahu confirmed in a statement marking six months since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.
Additional Hezbollah terror sites were targeted on Saturday night in Ayta ash Shab and Odaisseh in Southern Lebanon, the IDF announced.
Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Hamas on Oct. 8 following the Gaza terrorists’ Oct. 7 onslaught on southern Israel and has been launching near-daily cross-border attacks on northern Israel, while the Jewish state has responded with aerial attacks and artillery fire.
Lebanese terrorists on Sunday also fired rockets at the Upper Galilee, activating air-raid sirens in Kibbutz Manara and Moshav Margaliot, the Upper Galilee Regional Council said. Several rockets fell in open areas, while air defenses intercepted one projectile, per local authorities.
The IAF subsequently struck a terror compound belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in the Khiam region, as well as other targets. IDF forces also returned fire at rocket-launching squads in the areas of Kaukaba and Mis al-Jabal in Southern Lebanon, the army said on X.
Tension has been elevated on Israel’s borders since Iran threatened to avenge seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its leader in Syria and Lebanon, who were killed in an attack in Damascus that targeted a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy.
Tehran has held the Jewish state responsible for the death of Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zahedi, a top commander in the IRGC’s Quds Force. Israel has not officially taken responsibility for the attack, but four officials told The New York Times last week that Jerusalem ordered the strike.
Senior sources in the Iranian regime told Reuters on Thursday that the Islamic Republic would provide a “serious response” to the raid, though they suggested that it would seek to avoid a direct clash with Israel.
According to Israeli assessments reported by Channel 12, Iran could attempt to strike Israel through one of its terror proxies—Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen or militia forces in Syria.
The IDF is working to increase its readiness for a possible war with Hezbollah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday. He added that the military is expanding its operations against the terror group.
“We do not wish for a war in Lebanon. I can tell you that such a war would be a difficult challenge for the State of Israel—however, it would be a catastrophe for Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Gallant told military and local political officials following a home front preparedness drill in Haifa.
Image: IDF tanks take part in a military exercise in the northern Golan Heights, April 1, 2024. Photo by Michael Giladi/ Flash90.
