Israel strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

A view shows smoke and fire on the Lebanese side of the border with Israel, after Israel said it had noted armed group Hezbollah preparing to attack Israel and had carried out pre-emptive strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon August 25, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Tahe

The Israeli military says its warplanes are hitting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after detecting moves to fire missiles and rockets into Israel. 

“In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is striking terror targets,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Israel said Lebanese civilians had been warned to immediately leave areas where Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite Muslim group, was operating.

Shortly afterward, Hezbollah said it had launched a large-scale drone attack on Israel in response to last month’s killing of the group’s senior military commander.

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

Across northern Israel, sirens warning of incoming rockets were heard sounding early on Sunday.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was convening an urgent meeting of his security cabinet.

Israel has been exchanging fire with the Lebanon-based militant group since the start of the war last October with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel 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 Israel. 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.

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

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

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

The Israeli military issued civil defence instructions limiting gatherings but authorising people to go to their workplaces as long as they were able to reach air raid shelters quickly. There were no casualties immediately reported in Israel, according to the ambulance service.

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.”

BB Reuters