IDF drone strike kills Hezbollah cell in south Lebanon; 30 rockets fired at north

Several Hezbollah operatives were killed in a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Taybeh Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said, with Lebanese media reporting two people were killed when a motorcycle was targeted.

Meanwhile early Monday, the Lebanese terror group fired some 30 rockets at the Western Galilee.

The IDF released footage of the strike on the terror cell. The military also said other airstrikes struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon throughout the day, including an arms depot.

The Iran-backed terror group announced the deaths of three of its fighters on Sunday, without providing details, bringing the terror group’s toll since October to at least 406.

One of the IDF airstrikes was said to have killed three Syrians. Lebanon’s health ministry also said Sunday that a Lebanese civilian succumbed to injuries sustained in an Israeli strike “several days ago” on the southern village of Beit Lif.

“The enemies from Iran and Hezbollah are threatening to harm us in ways they haven’t used before, but whoever does so can expect an attack from us in a manner we haven’t taken before,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told IDF recruits at central Israel’s Tel Hashomer base.

“We have significant capabilities. I hope they take this into account and don’t bring about a war on additional fronts.”

Several Hebrew media reports Sunday said Israel now expects Iran to directly attack the country in the coming days in retaliation for the July 31 killing in Tehran of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, for which Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility.

The assassination had come hours after Hezbollah deputy chief Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the terror group’s south Beirut stronghold. Hezbollah has pledged to avenge Shukr, whom Israel blamed for a July 27 missile attack that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights.

Amid Israel’s preparations for war on the Lebanon front, the IDF said Sunday that reservists from the IDF’s 646th Brigade had carried out a drill over the past week simulating combat in the country’s mountainous terrain.

On Sunday, Hezbollah fired rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israel, claiming to target military infrastructure. One projectile impacted the evacuated border community of Netu’a, and a barrage of rockets struck open areas near the border community of Arab al-Aramshe.

Additionally, early Monday, Hezbollah fired a barrage of some 30 rockets from Lebanon at the Western Galilee.

Many of the rockets struck open areas, near Kibbutz Kabri, according to the IDF.

There were no injuries in the attack.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the attacks, claiming to have targeted Israeli military bases.

The IDF said there were no injuries in the attacks, adding it had shelled the launch sites with artillery.

The IDF also said Sunday that its fighter jets had struck a building that Hezbollah was using as a weapons depot in southern Lebanon’s Derdghaiya. Other buildings used by Hezbollah in nearby Kafr Kila, Jebbayn, and Odaisseh were also struck, the IDF added.

A union of local governments in the area said at least three Syrians were killed in the strike on Derdghaiya.

Forces led by Hezbollah have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis since October 8.

Hezbollah has said it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there, sparked by Hamas’s thousands-strong October 7 onslaught on southern Israel, which left nearly 1,200 people dead and saw 251 taken hostage.

To keep residents safe from Hezbollah’s attacks on the north, Israel evacuated communities along the border with Lebanon. Some 60,000 northern residents remain displaced.

Across the border, about 95,000 residents of southern Lebanon are also displaced, according to the United Nations.

So far, the skirmishes with Hezbollah have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 406 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria.

In Lebanon, another 71 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.

Source » msn.com