The military confrontation between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is escalating with both sides declaring their readiness for war. Hezbollah launched over 200 rockets at northern Israel on Wednesday morning, marking one of its largest rocket barrages since the start of the war on Gaza. This aggressive move came in response to the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander, Taleb Abdullah, in southeastern Lebanon the previous evening.
The Israeli military confirmed the strike that killed Abdullah, along with three other Hezbollah fighters. Following the barrage, sirens blared across dozens of communities in northern Israel. The military reported that many of the rockets were intercepted, but several landed, causing fires. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. Aerial footage showed Israeli warplanes attacking the launch site in southern Lebanon’s Yaroun.
Hezbollah, an armed group based in Lebanon with ties to Iran, confirmed Abdullah’s death in an airstrike on the town of Jouaiyya. Abdullah, also known as Hajj Abu Taleb, was reportedly the commander of a Hezbollah division covering the western sector of the front line between the border with Israel and the Litani River. He is the second operative to be mourned as a commander by Hezbollah since October 7, the first being Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of the elite Radwan unit, killed in an Israeli airstrike in January.
The escalation in attacks comes as both Israel and Hezbollah express readiness to expand their military confrontation amid rising tensions due to the war in Gaza. So far, ground fighting has been limited to skirmishes on the border, but Hezbollah has been challenging Israel’s air superiority over Lebanese skies. The group released footage showing its downing of a third Israeli-made Hermes 900 reconnaissance and attack drone over Lebanon using a surface-to-air missile. This week, it also fired several missiles at Israeli fighter planes, although the Israeli military confirmed no harm came to its aircraft.
Late on Tuesday, the Israeli military attacked an area in southern Lebanon from which Hezbollah was preparing a launch. It confirmed that 15 rockets were launched by the armed group, some intercepted while others landed in open areas. The Israeli military continues to pound areas across the Gaza Strip with no immediate signs of the war ending. Hamas has presented its response to the latest ceasefire proposal to mediators, which includes an exchange of prisoners and a plan for the reconstruction of the enclave.
Hezbollah’s rocket barrage on Wednesday sparked fires in several locations in northern Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) identified more than 200 projectiles crossing the border, some triggering fires but causing no casualties. A top Hezbollah official vowed to increase the intensity, force, and quantity of its attacks during the funeral of Taleb Sami Abdullah, the field commander targeted in the strike.
Exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border have been almost daily since the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began on October 7. Hezbollah claims to be acting in support of the Palestinian group. More than 375 people have been killed in Lebanon, including at least 88 civilians, according to Lebanese authorities and the UN. The Israeli military reports 18 soldiers and 10 civilians killed in Israel. The hostilities have displaced tens of thousands of people from border communities in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
Israeli media described Hezbollah’s rocket and missile fire on Wednesday as “unprecedented” since the conflict’s escalation eight months ago. Sirens sounded across northern Israel throughout the morning, with more than 170 projectiles identified as crossing from Lebanon. Some were intercepted, while others caused fires in several areas. The IDF responded by striking launchers in southern Lebanese border areas and “terrorist infrastructure sites” in Yater. They struck Yater again in the afternoon, as well as Taybeh, Markaba, Rachaya al-Foukhar, and Tallouseh, following new launches towards northern Israel.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli airstrikes destroyed a house in Yater, injuring one person. Warplanes and drones also targeted Markaba, and phosphorous shells were fired towards Odaisseh. By late afternoon, the total number of projectiles launched from Lebanon had reached 215, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper. Fires sparked by the rockets endangered “strategic sites and facilities,” according to Israel’s Fire and Rescue Authority.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for at least 17 operations against Israel on Wednesday, including eight in response to the “assassination” of Taleb Abdullah and three other fighters. Targets included Israeli military headquarters in Ein Zeitim and Ami’ad, a military air surveillance station in Meron, and a “military factory” in Sasa. The head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safieddine, told mourners at Abdullah’s funeral that Israel had “not learned the experiences of the past” and vowed to increase operations in intensity, strength, quantity, and quality.
The IDF described Abdullah as “one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders in southern Lebanon” and accused him of planning and carrying out “a large number of terror attacks against Israeli civilians.” Security sources in Lebanon told Reuters that Abdullah was Hezbollah’s commander for the central region of the southern border strip and was more senior than Wissam Tawil, a commander of the elite Radwan Force killed in January.
Last week, after rocket fire sparked wildfires that burned through 3,500 acres of land in northern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was prepared for “a very strong action in the north.” The IDF’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, said his forces were “ready to move to an offensive” against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated the group was ready for war with “no restraint and no rules and no ceilings” in the event of a major Israeli attack. Iran has warned that “all Resistance Fronts” would confront Israel if it attacks Lebanon, referring to the armed groups it supports throughout the region.
Reporting from Marjayoun, Lebanon, Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig said Hezbollah’s response to Nasser’s killing included ten separate attacks. Lebanon’s National News Agency also reported Israeli attacks on southern towns following the killing on Wednesday. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent a “conflagration” between Israel and Hezbollah. US Envoy Amos Hochstein, who has made repeated visits to Lebanon, was set to meet Macron’s Lebanon envoy in Paris.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said attacks were continuing, adding the military will “reach a state of full readiness to take any action required in Lebanon or to reach an arrangement from a position of strength.” Israeli fighter jets bombed several villages in southern Lebanon overnight, including Yaroun, Tayr Harfa, and Aitaroun. Hezbollah deputy commander Sheikh Naim Kassem said the group would stop fighting if a full ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
At least 543 people, including 88 civilians, have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon, while at least 21 Israelis, including 10 civilians, have been killed in attacks by Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon since the war began. At least 37,953 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel launched the assault after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed at least 1,139 people.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
