JERUSALEM: Israel struck Lebanon with around 100 jets early Sunday in what it called a preemptive strike to avert a large Hezbollah rocket and missile attack. The Lebanese militant group responded, saying it fired hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of a top commander last month. It was one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months of border warfare.
Israel’s military said one soldier with the navy was killed and two others wounded. Three casualties were reported on Hezbollah’s side.
Both sides halted the offensive by mid-morning, signalling no immediate escalation. It came as Egypt hosted talks aimed at a ceasefire in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah indicated it was not planning further strikes yet and Israel’s foreign minister said the country did not seek a full-scale war, but PM Netanyahu warned: “This is not the end of the story.”
Any major escalation risks morphing into a regional conflagration drawing in Hezbollah’s backer Iran and Israel’s main ally, US.
H ezbollah called its attack on Israeli military positions an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur in an Israeli strike in Beirut last month. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Iranian-backed group’s barrage had been completed “as planned”. However, the group would assess the impact of its strikes and “if the result is not enough, then we retain the right to respond another time”, he said, adding that Hezbollah’s rocket and drone strikes were focused on an intelligence base near Tel Aviv.
He denied that Israeli military destroyed thousands of the group’s rocket launchers. “Talk about how the resistance (Hezbollah) was going to launch 8,000 or 6,000 rockets and drones and that (Israel) thwarted this… are false claims,” he said in his televised speech, adding that only “dozens of rocket launchers” were destroyed. Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel and a “large number” of drones. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah provided evidence for their claims.
Missiles were visible curling up through the dawn sky, dark vapour trails behind them, as an air raid siren sounded in Israel and a distant blast lit the horizon, while smoke rose over houses in southern Lebanon. Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel’s international airport closed and diverted flights for about an hour. Israel’s Home Front Command later lifted restrictions in most areas.
An Israeli military spokesman said Hezbollah intended to hit targets in northern and central Israel. He said initial assessments found “very little damage” but the military remained on high alert. Four Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operational topics, told NYT that they believe Hezbollah had intended to target the headquarters of two intelligence agencies, Mossad and 8200, in Tel Aviv. There was a buildup of intelligence over recent days and into Saturday night, the officials said, providing enough information to identify what was being targeted and when an attack would take place.
Lebanon’s caretaker economy minister Amin Salam, after an emergency govt meeting, said officials were “feeling a bit more optimistic” about a de-escalation. “We feel more reassured since both sides confirmed that the expected operations ended”, he said.
President Biden was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon”, as per a spokesman for National Security Council. The Pentagon said defence secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
Israel’s military said one soldier with the navy was killed and two others wounded. Three casualties were reported on Hezbollah’s side.
Both sides halted the offensive by mid-morning, signalling no immediate escalation. It came as Egypt hosted talks aimed at a ceasefire in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah indicated it was not planning further strikes yet and Israel’s foreign minister said the country did not seek a full-scale war, but PM Netanyahu warned: “This is not the end of the story.”
Any major escalation risks morphing into a regional conflagration drawing in Hezbollah’s backer Iran and Israel’s main ally, US.
H ezbollah called its attack on Israeli military positions an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur in an Israeli strike in Beirut last month. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Iranian-backed group’s barrage had been completed “as planned”. However, the group would assess the impact of its strikes and “if the result is not enough, then we retain the right to respond another time”, he said, adding that Hezbollah’s rocket and drone strikes were focused on an intelligence base near Tel Aviv.
He denied that Israeli military destroyed thousands of the group’s rocket launchers. “Talk about how the resistance (Hezbollah) was going to launch 8,000 or 6,000 rockets and drones and that (Israel) thwarted this… are false claims,” he said in his televised speech, adding that only “dozens of rocket launchers” were destroyed. Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel and a “large number” of drones. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah provided evidence for their claims.
Missiles were visible curling up through the dawn sky, dark vapour trails behind them, as an air raid siren sounded in Israel and a distant blast lit the horizon, while smoke rose over houses in southern Lebanon. Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel’s international airport closed and diverted flights for about an hour. Israel’s Home Front Command later lifted restrictions in most areas.
An Israeli military spokesman said Hezbollah intended to hit targets in northern and central Israel. He said initial assessments found “very little damage” but the military remained on high alert. Four Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operational topics, told NYT that they believe Hezbollah had intended to target the headquarters of two intelligence agencies, Mossad and 8200, in Tel Aviv. There was a buildup of intelligence over recent days and into Saturday night, the officials said, providing enough information to identify what was being targeted and when an attack would take place.
Lebanon’s caretaker economy minister Amin Salam, after an emergency govt meeting, said officials were “feeling a bit more optimistic” about a de-escalation. “We feel more reassured since both sides confirmed that the expected operations ended”, he said.
President Biden was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon”, as per a spokesman for National Security Council. The Pentagon said defence secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
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