Hezbollah fires 62 rockets at Israel in ‘initial response’ to attack that killed senior Hamas leader in Beirut

2024-01-06 19:01:07

The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah announced this Saturday that it launched 62 projectiles against one of the main intelligence centers in northern Israel, in its first response to the assassination of the number two of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Saleh al Arouri, this Tuesday on the outskirts of Beirut.

At 8:10 a.m. local time, fighters from the armed formation fired dozens of projectiles “of various types” at the Meron Air Surveillance Base, one of only two centers with such characteristics in the Jewish State, Hezbollah reported in a statement.

According to the note, the facilities attacked are located at the top of the “highest mountain in occupied Palestine” – another major peak in Israeli hands belongs to the Golan taken from Syria – and are the only ones intended for “administration, surveillance and aerial control” in northern Israel.

“There is no important alternative to the Meron Base,” Hezbullah stated, explaining that the Jewish State only has another similar center in the south of the country.

The Israeli Army confirmed the offensive against its military base, after confirming at least 40 rockets in flight, most of them intercepted, and no casualties were reported.

The massive rocket launch activated alerts in about 90 communities in the north of the country, but the Israel Defense Forces stated that only the base located on Mount Meron was targeted, according to local media. Times of Israel.

The Israeli military said it carried out a counterattack that would have hit “a terrorist cell responsible for the launches.”

Buildings engulfed in smoke after an Israeli attack on the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab, on the border between the two countries. Photo: AP

Reprisal

This Saturday’s launch is a response to a bombing attributed to Israel that last Tuesday killed Al Arouri and six other people in the southern suburbs of Beirut, an important bastion of the Shiite movement that had not been attacked since their war. 2006 with Israel.

The border between Israel and Lebanon also became a scene of conflict, but Arouri’s murder raises fears of an escalation.

This Friday, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, had warned that the assassination of his “brother and friend” from Hamas “would not go without response” and had warned that retaliation for the bombing was “definitely approaching”, that Israel has not officially claimed responsibility.

“We will not remain silent in the face of a violation of this level, because that would mean that all of Lebanon would be exposed. All cities, towns, figures would be exposed,” the Shiite cleric had said in a speech.

Lebanese formation and Israeli forces have been engaged in intense crossfire across the border between the two countries since October 8, while this week’s attack in the suburbs of Beirut has raised fears of further escalation.