In one of the most violent exchanges across the southern front, Hezbollah fired “at least 215 rockets into northern Israel,” over the past 24 hours, drawing a strong Israeli retaliation with airstrikes, artillery shelling and phosphorus bombing.
The rocket barrage launched by the Iranian-backed party followed the elimination on Tuesday evening of a senior Hezbollah official, Taleb Sami Abdallah, and three other fighters in an attack on the village of Jwaya.
On Thursday evening, the Israeli army said that “two of its soldiers were wounded by an anti-armor missile fired at the border with Lebanon,” without giving any further details.
Additionally, Hezbollah said its fighters targeted the Ramtha military site in the Kfarchouba hills on Thursday “with appropriate weapons, hitting it directly.”
It also reported that after monitoring and tracking Israeli forces, they targeted a military Humvee at the Quds (Yiftah) triangle with a guided missile, destroying it and causing casualties among its occupants.
Early evening Thursday, Hezbollah claimed that it targeted Israeli soldiers in the Doviv forest with rocket-propelled grenades, inflicting casualties among them.
In retaliation, Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes targeting the outskirts of Marjayoun and Jabal al-Rihan. They also targeted the outskirts of the town of Haris. An airstrike on Barakat forest on the outskirts of the town of Jdeidet Marjayoun caused fires in the forested area.
Israeli warplanes launched three airstrikes targeting the Yuhmur al-Shaqif river towards Deir Siryan. Another airstrike around al-Qatrani ignited a large fire in Jabal Bou Rashid in the Jezzine area.
While civil defense teams managed to control the fire in Jabal Bou Rashid in al-Qatrani, the National News Agency reported that Israeli artillery fired internationally prohibited incendiary and phosphorous shells on the forests of Yaroun and Qatmoun on the outskirts of Rmeish in the Bint Jbeil district, causing extensive fires that consumed large areas of forests and olive trees.
The Israeli army stated that its fighter jets bombed a large number of buildings used by Hezbollah in Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon. The Times of Israel quoted the army as saying that another Hezbollah infrastructure was bombed in Ainata as well.
Israel said on Thursday that Hezbollah, Iran and the Lebanese government bear “full responsibility” for the escalating violence across the Israeli-Lebanese border, hinting that a further escalation may be planned.
Israeli government spokesperson David Menser stated, “Whether through diplomatic efforts or otherwise, Israel will restore security to our northern borders.”
In the same context, an Israeli military spokesperson confirmed that “Israel would respond forcefully to all Hezbollah attacks” after the party launched a barrage of rockets toward Israel over the past two days.
