Israel and Hezbollah Ramp Up Cross-Border Attacks as War Moves Closer
Militant group says it targeted Iron Dome developer and airbase; dozens of Israeli warplanes strike southern Lebanon
Israel and Hezbollah accelerated their cross-border attacks overnight into Sunday, in a rapidly deteriorating situation that has the adversaries as close to war as they have been in their nearly yearlong conflict.
Hezbollah said it targeted Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems—one of the developers of its Iron Dome air-defense system—on Sunday as part of the group’s initial response to the explosion of thousands of its communication devices, an attack attributed to Israel that killed over 30 people, including a number of civilians. The company is located near Haifa, about 15 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. The Lebanon-based militant group also said it targeted Israel’s Ramat David air base, also near Haifa, with Syrian-made rockets. The Israeli military didn’t confirm the targets of the strikes but said Hezbollah had struck deeper than usual into Israeli territory.
Some 115 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel on Sunday morning, the Israeli military said. Most were intercepted or fell in open areas, but Hezbollah landed three direct hits on Israeli communities, including two on residential buildings in the city of Kiryat Bialik, according to state-owned Army Radio. Videos circulating online and confirmed by the military show vehicles and buildings set ablaze, and emergency forces said four people were injured by shrapnel.
Three projectiles were also launched at Israel from the east, including two from Iraq, home to Iran-aligned militias, according to the Israeli military.
Dozens of warplanes broadly struck southern Lebanon on Saturday night and into Sunday morning, Israel’s military said, in what it called a pre-emptive attack against rocket-launching positions earmarked for a broader attack on Sunday morning.
The strikes follow a week of sharply rising tensions between Israel and the U.S.-designated terror group, raising U.S. concerns that the parties will drag the region into a broader war. Hezbollah initiated the current conflict with Israel on Oct. 8 as a show of support to Palestinian militant group Hamas after it launched the Oct. 7 attack in which fighters killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage. But the tit-for-tat cross-border fire exchanges have gradually dialed up in intensity over recent months, as a diplomatic solution remains elusive.
Israel changed its strategy in the past week, ratcheting up the intensity and audacity of its strikes against Hezbollah, aiming for a decision point in the conflict, which has forced tens of thousands of civilians on either side of the border from their homes. On Friday Israel put more pressure on the issue, killing 16 senior Hezbollah members in Beirut, in an attack that Lebanon says also killed about two dozen civilians. Israel’s message is that either a solution must be reached or it will push on with the fighting, even into a war that is expected to be devastating to both sides.
“This is a situation that is intolerable and Israel is committed to act to change this reality,” Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said on Sunday.