Israel‘s fighting with Hezbollah along its northern border with Lebanon has escalated hours before a four-day truce with Hamas to its west.
Israel Defense Forces reported Thursday it had deployed helicopters and fighter jets in retaliatory airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon after the Iran-sponsored militant group earlier fired 48 rockets at the headquarters of an Israeli infantry unit at Ein Zeitim military base near Safed.
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“IDF soldiers struck Hezbollah military infrastructure with the ‘Iron Sting’ weapon system in Lebanon,” the IDF said Thursday. “In addition, an IDF helicopter, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), and tanks struck a terrorist cell that launched an anti-tank missile toward the area of Biranit, and the launch post from which the missile was fired.”
Hezbollah also aimed a guided missile at Israeli tanks near Al-Raheb, near Shtula.
The exchanges are among the most intense since the start of the war in Gaza, provoked by the terrorist organization Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel, which left 1,200 people dead. They coincide with Iran-backed groups in Iraq targeting United States troops in that country and Syria. Similarly, the U.S. on Thursday shot down bomb-carrying drones fired from territory controlled by Iran-supported rebels in Yemen.
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A day earlier, Israel took out five senior members of Hezbollah in a strike on a house in Beit Yahoun, Lebanon, including Abbas Raad, the son of Mohammed Raad, who leads Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc in Beirut.
Simultaneously, Israel is preparing for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas, which includes the release of 50 of the 240 hostages and some Palestinian prisoners.
