Hezbollah announces attack after Israeli bombing in Lebanon

Beirut (EFE). – The Lebanese group Hezbollah has announced the launch of a massive retaliatory “air strike” against Israel with a “large number of drones”, aimed at “qualitative Israeli targets” inside the country.

This was indicated in two statements issued by the group in the early hours of Sunday, which also said that the attacks launched in the first phase “occurred according to plan” and reached at least eleven military targets in both Israeli territory and the Golan Heights, including artillery positions and barracks.

According to him, these attacks are a response to the “brutal Zionist aggression in the southern suburbs of Beirut”, which led to the death of Hezbollah’s top military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli bombing on July 30.

100 Israeli aircraft attack thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers

Israel launched a series of bombings in Lebanon earlier this Sunday after it identified that Hezbollah was preparing a “massive attack against Israel”, which was also recognized by the Shiite militia.

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the Israeli air force used about 100 fighter jets to attack thousands of rocket launchers belonging to the Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon, aiming at northern and central Israel.

Thus, Israeli Air Force fighter jets are attacking what Israel considers “an imminent threat to the citizens” of the Jewish state.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Galant has declared a military emergency following the bombing in Lebanon.

In a statement, the Defense Ministry explained that Galant had activated a “special situation on the domestic front,” adding that “this declaration of a state of emergency allows the military to issue directives to the citizens of Israel, such as limiting gatherings and closing venues when relevant.”

The minister also held talks with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, in which Gallant confirmed that Israel had launched “precision strikes” against Lebanon to thwart an imminent threat against Israel.

In the early hours of the morning, the Israeli military identified that Hezbollah was preparing to fire missiles and rockets into Israeli territory, and in response to these threats, the air force began bombing “terrorist targets in Lebanon”.

Sirens have been activated along the entire border between Israel and Lebanon

Since the announcement by Israeli authorities, air raid sirens have not stopped activating in the border area with Lebanon.

The Magen David Adom emergency service “raised its alert status to the highest level across the country”, though it had not yet received reports of victims.

For its part, the Israel Airports Authority announced that due to the security situation, flights departing from Ben Gurion International Airport were delayed and will not take off in the next few hours, while flights headed to Tel Aviv are being redirected.

Hezbollah expressed solidarity with the Islamist group Hamas in its war against Israel last October, and since then, violence along the border between Israel and Lebanon has escalated to the worst level of the war since the 2006 war.

It added that Hezbollah – an ally of Iran – has vowed to launch a massive attack against Israel to avenge the death of its top commander Fuad Shukr, who was killed in Israeli bombing on the outskirts of Beirut on 30 July.

Deadly balance of firing

At least 636 people have died in border clashes since October, the majority on the Lebanese side and in the ranks of Hezbollah, which has confirmed 392 casualties.

In total, at least 586 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than 124 civilians, while in Israel 49 people have been killed in the north of the territory: 23 soldiers and 26 civilians, including 12 minors, have been killed in an attack on the Druze town of Majdal and Shams, in the occupied Golan Heights.