IDF strikes Hezbollah weapons depots deep in Lebanon after deadly drone attack
Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah arms depots deep inside Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, the military said late Monday, as a Lebanese media report claimed that the threatened retaliatory attack for the killing of the terror group’s top commander could be back on track after Hamas appeared to reject truce terms aimed at ending fighting in Gaza.
At least three Israeli airstrikes hit towns in the Lebanon’s northeastern Baalbek District, Lebanese state media reported.
Videos from the scene showed a large fire and multiple explosions following the initial strike.
The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged the attack, saying fighter jets attacked “Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the area of Bekaa [Valley] in Lebanon.” The strike occurred hours after an IDF officer was killed in an explosive drone attack on northern Israel.
“Following the strikes, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of large amounts of weapons in the facilities struck,” the Israeli army said.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes injured eight people, including two Syrian children.
A spokesperson for Hezbollah did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the strike, which came as an apparent response to a Monday morning sortie of five explosive drones flown by the terror group at Israel.
Most of the projectiles were intercepted, but one exploded, killing Chief Warrant Officer Mahmood Amaria, 45, and wounded several other soldiers at a military base near Ya’ara in the Western Galilee.
Israeli strikes deep inside Lebanon are relatively rare and generally come in response to deadly attacks. Nabi Chit, where one of the strikes in Baalbek reportedly took place, is some 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Israeli border.
The IDF said Monday night it had also carried out a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Deir Qanoun, near Tyre, earlier, killing a Hezbollah operative.
Hezbollah said in a statement that the attack killed Hussein Suleiman. The IDF identified Suleiman as a prominent member of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit.
Another Hezbollah cell was also struck by fighter jets in a building in Taybeh, the IDF added.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading daily fire for nearly 10 months.
The region has been bracing for a major escalation in violence for more than two weeks, since Israel killed Hezbollah’s military chief Fuad Shukr and was blamed for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, drawing promises to retaliate from both Iran and its Lebanese proxy.
Last week, three Iranian officials said that a successful hostage deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group in Gaza could hold Iran back from direct retaliation against Israel.
One of the sources, a senior Iranian security official, said Iran, along with allies such as Hezbollah, would launch a direct attack if the talks for a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas fail or it perceives Israel is dragging out negotiations. The sources did not say how long Iran would allow for talks to progress before taking action.
Hamas published an official statement on Sunday evening in which it rejected the terms for a hostage release-ceasefire deal that were discussed in Doha on Thursday and Friday, and blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for putting up new obstacles in the talks.
On Monday, the Lebanese Al Jadeed TV cited sources close to Hezbollah as saying that after Hamas announced its rejection of the latest ceasefire proposal, the Lebanese terror group was “freed from the restrictions” of having to wait to respond to not be accused of disrupting the negotiations.
The report said that Hezbollah’s response to the killing of Shukr “is ready” and all that remained was “to determine the appropriate timing.”
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 19 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 415 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 72 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Source » timesofisrael.com
