A firefighting plane releases flame retardant to extinguish fires brought on by rockets launched from southern Lebanon which landed on the outskirts of Safed, within the higher Galilee, on June 12, 2024. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and Israel have been buying and selling near-daily hearth for the reason that Gaza conflict was trigged by the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 assault on southern Israel. Agence France-Presse
BEIRUT — Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets at Israel on Wednesday and vowed to accentuate its assaults after an Israeli strike killed a senior commander in south Lebanon yesterday.
Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border hearth with Israeli forces since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering conflict within the Gaza Strip.
The exchanges have escalated in current weeks, with Hezbollah stepping up its use of drones to assault Israeli navy positions and Israel hitting again with focused strikes in opposition to the militants.
READ: Hezbollah assaults Israel after lethal south Lebanon strike
“We are going to improve the depth, power, amount and high quality of our assaults,” mentioned senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, talking on the funeral of commander Taleb Sami Abdallah, who was killed in Tuesday’s Israeli strike.
In Doha, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed calls Wednesday for a diplomatic resolution on the Israel-Lebanon border and mentioned a long-sought Gaza ceasefire deal would “take an amazing quantity of stress out of the system”.
Hezbollah mentioned that in “response to the assassination carried out by the Zionist enemy”, it launched six assaults with Katyusha rockets or heavy-duty Burkan missiles at navy positions and bases in northern Israel, additionally hanging a “navy manufacturing unit” with guided missiles.
READ: Hezbollah says it fired drones and guided missiles at Israel
The Iran-backed militant group in separate statements additionally claimed greater than 10 different assaults on Israeli troops and positions on Wednesday, together with one with drones.
The Israeli military mentioned greater than 150 “projectiles” had been fired from Lebanon in three successive barrages.
“Roughly 90 projectiles have been recognized crossing from Lebanon,” it mentioned, including a number of have been intercepted however others struck inside Israel, sparking fires in elements of the north.
The preliminary barrage was adopted by a second of about 70 projectiles and a 3rd of round 10, the navy mentioned, including the military struck a number of websites in south Lebanon in response.
‘Essential’ commander
“Israel Fireplace and Rescue Companies are at the moment working to extinguish the fires that broke out because of the launches,” the navy mentioned.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service mentioned there have been no quick stories of casualties.
The Israeli military on Wednesday confirmed it had “eradicated” Taleb Sami Abdallah in a strike the day earlier than on a Hezbollah command centre in southern Lebanon.
In a press release, it referred to as Abdallah “one among Hezbollah’s most senior commanders in southern Lebanon” and mentioned he “deliberate, superior, and carried out a lot of terror assaults in opposition to Israeli civilians”.
Abdallah was killed together with three Hezbollah comrades in an Israeli strike on Jouaiyya, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border, a supply near the group instructed AFP.
A Lebanese navy supply mentioned the commander was “crucial in Hezbollah to be killed… for the reason that begin of the conflict”.
The group had urged its supporters to attend Abdallah’s funeral within the southern suburbs of Beirut, describing him as “one of many knights of the resistance”.
Males sporting navy fatigues and black berets carried his coffin, coated in Hezbollah’s yellow flag, as a brass band performed for the ceremony.
‘Harsh blow’
Professional-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar described the strike that killed Abdallah as “a harsh blow” to the group.
Britain-based Center East specialist Amal Saad performed down the prospect of wider escalation.
“I don’t suppose that the dying of this highest-ranking commander goes to alter any of Hezbollah’s calculations,” she mentioned, including civilian casualties have been “pink strains” for the group reasonably than the concentrating on of commanders or fighters.
“We witnessed an escalation in high quality and amount of (Hezbollah) assaults as a way to put stress on Israel and the US within the ceasefire talks and enhance Hamas’s bargaining place,” Saad mentioned.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah mentioned it fired about 50 rockets at Israeli positions within the annexed Golan Heights.
Greater than eight months of cross-border violence has killed a minimum of 468 individuals in Lebanon, most of them fighters but additionally together with 89 civilians, in response to an AFP tally.
Israeli authorities say a minimum of 15 Israeli troopers and 11 civilians have been killed.
Tens of 1000’s of individuals have been displaced on each side of the border for the reason that violence erupted the day after the Hamas assault on southern Israel.
The October 7 assault resulted within the deaths of 1,194 individuals in Israel, principally civilians, in response to an AFP tally based mostly on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in opposition to Hamas has killed a minimum of 37,202 individuals in Gaza, additionally principally civilians, in response to the Hamas-run territory’s well being ministry.