Smoke rises from an area attacked by Hezbollah militants on November 23, near Israel’s border with Lebanon (Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty Images)
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fired 48 rockets at the headquarters of an Israeli infantry unit at the Ein Zeitim military base near the city of Safed in northern Israel.
In a statement on Thursday, Hezbollah said it also fired a guided missile at Israeli Merkava tanks near Al-Raheb, near the Israeli town of Shtula, and targeted Israeli infantry forces in the area.
Hezbollah also launched nine more attacks on Israeli military posts and soldier gatherings on Thursday morning, including in Jal Alalam, Berket Risha, Al-Manara and Ramim.
Israeli forces said they had “intercepted a number of the launches” and later confirmed that they had used helicopters and fighter jets to target Hezbollah’s infrastructure and missile launch sites in Lebanon in response to the militant group’s attacks.
“IDF soldiers attacked Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in Lebanon using the ‘Iron Sting’ weapon system,” the military said in an update on Thursday afternoon.
“In addition, an IDF helicopter, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and tanks attacked a terrorist cell that fired an anti-tank missile at the Biranit area and the launch point from which the missile was fired.”
Meanwhile, the state-run Lebanese News Agency (NNA) said it recorded the highest number of Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon and overnight hours since this round of hostilities began on October 8.
NNA reported Thursday that several towns along the border came under Israeli artillery fire in the morning.
Remember: Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed paramilitary group, is at the center of international fears that the war between Israel and Hamas could expand into a larger conflict in the Middle East.
The group’s leadership has expressed support for the Palestinians and condemned the Israeli offensive in Gaza, but has not yet intervened directly on behalf of Hamas.
However, skirmishes on the Israel-Lebanon border have increased since Hamas launched its terror attacks in Israel on October 7. The crossfire is becoming more and more deadly.