Lebanon’s Hezbollah revealed on Sunday that it had used “Fadi 1” and “Fadi 2” missiles for the first time to target the Israeli Ramat David military base and airport, and the Rafael Military Industries complex in Haifa, in an “initial response” to the bombing of thousands of communication devices in the possession of its members earlier this week..
The Fadi 1 missile is a version of the 220 mm Khaybar M220 missile, and the Fadi 2 is the 302 mm M302 missile, which previously appeared at the Imad 4 facility.
It is a copy of the Chinese missile, “Dual US-2”, and Hezbollah had previously launched a copy of it at the Israeli army in the July 2006 war, and that copy at the time was the Khaibar 1 missile.
This missile is considered a multi-range weapon, ranging between 90 and 200 kilometers, and carries explosive warheads weighing tens of kilograms, some of which reach about 145 kilograms, causing great destruction, but it is among the missiles that are not equipped with a GPS system.
In turn, the Israeli army confirmed that Hezbollah launched the largest barrage of missiles on Israel since the beginning of the current war, as it launched 4 batches of more than 150 missiles and a drone on the Jezreel Valley, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“During the night and morning hours, about 150 rockets, cruise missiles and drones were fired towards Israeli territory, most of them aimed at northern Israel,” the army said in a statement.
Sirens sounded in and around Haifa, Ramat David Air Base, Nazareth, Afula, the Lower Galilee and the Jezreel Valley, and as a result of the shooting in northern Israel, 6 people were injured.
“Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to take shelters throughout northern Israel,” army spokesman Nadav Shoshani told AFP.
In a related context, the Israeli Ministry of Health said on Sunday that instructions were issued to hospitals in northern Israel to move their operations to facilities with additional protection from rocket and shell fire. The ministry added that Rambam Hospital in the city of Haifa will transfer patients to its secure underground facilities.
In light of these rocket launches, the Israeli authorities decided to close schools and educational institutions in the northern areas until Monday evening. The army had previously confirmed in a statement that the rockets caused the fires.
Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging cross-border fire since October 2023, after the party opened a “support front” for Hamas and Gaza, following the outbreak of war between the Palestinian movement and Israel.
Last updated: September 22, 2024 – 16:02
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2024-09-24 21:43:32