The Lebanese Hezbollah group announced it launched over 200 rockets on Thursday targeting several military bases in Israel. This attack was in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed a senior Hezbollah commander. The escalation marks one of the largest confrontations in the ongoing conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border, which has seen rising tensions in recent weeks.
The Israeli military reported that “numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets” entered its territory from Lebanon, many of which were intercepted. It confirmed the death of one soldier in the barrage. According to the Israeli military, around 200 projectiles were launched towards the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, and over 20 drones were sent into Israeli territory, with some being intercepted.
Following Hezbollah’s attack, Israel conducted airstrikes on various towns in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military stated that it targeted Hezbollah’s “military structures” in the southern border towns of Ramyeh and Houla. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone strike in Houla killed at least one person. Additionally, Israeli jets broke the sound barrier over Beirut and other areas in Lebanon.
Israel acknowledged on Wednesday that it had killed Mohammad Naameh Nasser, who led one of Hezbollah’s three regional divisions in southern Lebanon, the day before. Hours after his death, Hezbollah launched scores of Katyusha and Falaq rockets with heavy warheads into northern Israel and the Golan. The group continued its attacks on Thursday, sending exploding drones into several bases. The Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war, is recognized as part of Israel by the United States but not by the international community.
Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, vowed that the group would continue its retaliatory attacks, targeting new sites. He claimed that there had been many casualties, even if Israel did not always acknowledge the hits, speaking at Nasser’s funeral. Nasser was a significant figure for Hezbollah, having participated in conflicts in Syria and Iraq from 2011 to 2016 and the 2006 war with Israel. His death follows the killing of two other senior Hezbollah commanders.
The U.S. and France are working to prevent the skirmishes from escalating into a broader war, fearing regional spillover. Washington initially sought calm along the Lebanon-Israel border separate from the conflict in Gaza. However, since President Joe Biden’s cease-fire proposal, the U.S. now links calm in Lebanon and northern Israel to the end of the Gaza war. Hezbollah’s strikes began in solidarity with Hamas, another Iran-allied group that initiated the Gaza war with its October 7 attack on southern Israel. Hezbollah has indicated that its attacks will cease once a Gaza cease-fire is in place, though it remains prepared for war.
Israeli officials have warned they might opt for war in Lebanon if diplomatic efforts fail. The ongoing conflict has displaced tens of thousands on both sides. In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, while Lebanon has seen over 450 casualties, primarily fighters but also dozens of civilians.
Israel views Hezbollah as its most significant threat, estimating the group possesses an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided ones. The 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah ended in a draw, with neither side achieving a decisive victory.
Recently, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, met with French President Emmanuel Macron’s Lebanon envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in Paris, highlighting ongoing international diplomatic efforts to address the conflict.
