Hezbollah fires rockets into Israel to avenge top commander

Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones into Israel early Sunday, while the Israeli military said it struck Lebanon with about 100 jets to deter a larger attack, in one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months of border war.

Rockets were seen arcing across the dawn sky, dark vapor trails behind them, as an air raid siren sounded in Israel and a distant explosion lit up the horizon as smoke billowed over houses in Khiam in southern Lebanon.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear and Hezbollah indicated it was not yet planning further attacks, while Israel’s foreign minister said the country did not seek a full-scale war.

Any major escalation in the fighting, which began alongside the war in Gaza, risks turning into a regional conflagration that draws in Hezbollah backer Iran and Israel’s main ally, the United States.

Sunday’s attacks came as negotiators were meeting in Cairo in a last-ditch effort to finalize a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Iranian-backed Lebanese group said it had fired 320 Katyusha rockets at Israel and hit 11 military targets in what it called the first phase of its revenge for Israel’s killing of Fuad Shukr, a top commander, last month.

Israel’s military said it had thwarted a much larger attack with preemptive airstrikes after it estimated Hezbollah was preparing to launch the barrage, using 100 jets to hit more than 40 Hezbollah launch sites in southern Lebanon.

The strikes destroyed thousands of launchers, mostly aimed at northern Israel but also targeting some central areas, the Israeli military said.

Hezbollah rejected Israel’s claim that the group’s attack had been thwarted by pre-emptive strikes, saying it had been able to launch its drones as planned and that the rest of its response to Shukr’s killing would take “some time “.

Israel’s cabinet met at 7 am (0400 GMT). Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a state of emergency and Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel would respond to developments on the ground, but not seek full-scale war.

Flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv were suspended for about 90 minutes.

“We are determined to do everything possible to protect our country, return northerners safely to their homes, and continue to respect one simple rule: Anyone who harms us, we damage it,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. .

Lebanon’s interim prime minister Najib Mikati met with cabinet ministers at a session of the national emergency committee. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will speak on television later Sunday, the group said.

United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon and the office of the UN special coordinator in the country called on all sides to cease fire, calling overnight developments “disturbing”.

Expectations of an escalation had grown since a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last month killed 12 young men and the Israeli military killed Shukr in Beirut in response.

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

The Israeli military issued civil defense directives from central Israel to the north, limiting gatherings but authorizing people to go to work as long as they were able to quickly reach air raid shelters. There were no immediate casualties reported in Israel, according to the ambulance service.

Israeli media said the hail that hit the northern areas had damaged several houses and a chicken coop.

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

One of the attacks in the town of Khiam killed a fighter from the Hezbollah-allied Amal Shiite group, two security sources told Reuters. Amal later announced his death.

A resident of the southern Lebanese city of Zibqeen, about 7 km (4 miles) from the border, told Reuters it was the first time he had been woken up “by the sounds of planes and loud rocket blasts – even before the dawn prayer. It felt like the apocalypse.”

Israel’s army radio, citing defense officials, said the army assessed that Hezbollah’s barrage in northern Israel was “improvised” after the pre-emptive strike by Israeli jets on Hezbollah’s launch sites.

President Joe Biden was following the events closely, the White House said.

“At his direction, senior US officials have been in constant communication with their Israeli counterparts. We will continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself and continue to work for regional stability,” the Security Council spokesman said. National, Sean Savett.

Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel shortly after the October 7 attacks by Hamas gunmen in Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have repeatedly exchanged fire since then, while avoiding a major escalation as war rages in Gaza to the south.

This precarious balance appeared to change after the Golan Heights attack, for which Hezbollah denied responsibility, and the subsequent killing of Shukr, one of Hezbollah’s top military commanders.

Shukr’s death in an airstrike was quickly followed by the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, leading to vows of retaliation against Israel by Iran.