Lebanese Hezbollah announced on Sunday morning that it had launched a large-scale drone and rocket attack against Israel, in response to the death of a top military leader killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut on July 30. The announcement came as the Israeli army said it carried out pre-emptive strikes in Lebanon after detecting preparations by Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian Hamas, to launch “large-scale attacks” against Israel, where a state of emergency has been declared. been established.
Information to remember:
- Lebanese Hezbollah says its major attack on Israel is “completed” by Sunday
- Hamas welcomes Hezbollah’s attacks and sees them as a “slap” inflicted on Israel
- Israel claimed to have repelled the attack and announced on Sunday that “about a hundred” of its planes had “targeted and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers”
- Air France suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut until Monday
The US helped Israel track Hezbollah’s fire
The United States helped the Israeli military monitor and track Lebanese Hezbollah fire on Israel early Sunday, but did not intervene directly, a senior U.S. defense official said.
“The US was not involved in Israel’s pre-emptive strike last night. We provided intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to track attacks arriving from Lebanese Hezbollah,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that US help to deal with those attacks “wasn’t necessary.”
Hezbollah targeted a military base near Tel Aviv on Sunday
The leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, announced that his party had attacked an Israeli military intelligence base near Tel Aviv as part of the major attack launched on Sunday morning against Israel.
The “main target of the operation” was the “Glilot base, the main Israeli military intelligence base” “110 km from the border,” declared Hassan Nasrallah during a televised speech.
Benjamin Netanyahu warns that Israel has not said “its last word”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that Israel had not had the “last word” with its dawn strikes on southern Lebanon to thwart a large-scale attack by the Shiite movement Hezbollah.
“Three weeks ago we eliminated its commander (of Hezbollah) and today we foiled his attack plan,” Mr Netanyahu insisted at the beginning of the Council of Ministers, according to his office, after the attack carried by Hezbollah. out in response to the assassination of one of its senior military leaders, Fouad Chokr, killed in an Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut on July 30.
An attack received by Hamas
Hamas, which is at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip, welcomed the major attack that Lebanese Hezbollah said it carried out on Sunday against Israeli positions, seeing it as a “strong response” and a “slap” inflicted on it Israeli government.
“We emphasize that this strong and targeted reaction, deep within the Zionist entity, is a slap in the face of the Israeli government,” Hamas said in a statement. Israel, for its part, claimed to have repelled a “large part” of the Hezbollah attack by carrying out several strikes in Lebanon.
“Done and done”
Lebanese Hezbollah announced that its major attack against Israeli military targets using drones and rockets was “completed” by Sunday and had achieved its objectives.
“Our military operation today is over and done,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement. Israel’s claims “regarding the preemptive action it took […] and the failure of the resistance attack are empty claims,” he added.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported at least three deaths Sunday in Israeli strikes in the south of the country, where Israel said it had carried out raids against Hezbollah, which in turn announced a major strike against Israeli military targets. Two people were killed in “an Israeli enemy raid” on the village of At-Tiri and a third in an “Israeli drone attack on a car in the village of Khiam,” the ministry said. The Amal movement, an ally of Hezbollah, announced the death of one of its members in Israeli fire, specifying that he was from Khiam. The ministry also reported two wounded, including a Syrian, in “a series of Israeli raids” in the south.
UN calls for ‘cease fire’
The UN coordinator in Lebanon and peacekeepers stationed there called on Sunday for Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel to “refrain from any further escalation” and to “hold fire”.
In a joint statement, the Office of the UN Coordinator and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stationed on the Israel-Lebanon border note “the worrying development of the situation” on Sunday after the pro-Iranian Hezbollah announced that it had carried out a major attack against Israel, which in turn announced pre-emptive strikes in the neighboring country.
Yemen’s Houthis threaten Israel again
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday praised Lebanon’s Hezbollah for their attacks on Israel and again threatened to retaliate against Israeli attacks last month on the Yemeni port of Hodeida.
“We congratulate Hezbollah and its secretary general for the great and courageous attack carried out by the resistance this morning against the Israeli enemy,” they said in a statement, adding that it was a response to the July 20 Israeli attacks on the port they control. , from Hodeida, “certainly coming.” Hezbollah’s “response” confirms that the resistance is “strong” and able to “honor its promises and threats”, the Houthis added.
“More than 320” rockets fired
In a statement, the pro-Iranian formation said it had “launched an air strike using a large number of drones” on Israeli territory. She also said she fired “more than 320” Katyusha rockets at 11 military bases in Israel and the occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah indicated that this “first phase” had been “successfully completed”, and specified that its objective was to target “Israeli barracks and positions to facilitate the passage of attack drones” towards Israeli territory.
Israeli authorities did not immediately report any military positions affected. The powerful group further warned that Israel would be “severely punished” if it harmed civilians in Lebanon. The National Information Agency (ANI, official) reported Israeli raids in a large number of locations in southern Lebanon, some relatively far from the border of the two countries, without reporting casualties. Beirut airport was operating normally on Sunday morning.
The Israeli army announced on Sunday that “around a hundred” of its planes had “targeted and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers” during raids to prevent a large-scale attack by the Lebanese movement.
Air France suspends its flights
French airline Air France told AFP on Sunday that its services to Tel Aviv and Beirut had been suspended “until at least Monday, August 26”, following the worsening tensions between Israel and Lebanon.
In light of the situation, “flights today and tomorrow are cancelled,” a company representative said, adding that this could possibly be extended. A new point will be made on Monday “to assess the situation”, he added.
state of emergency declared in Israel
Israel’s defense minister announced on Sunday that he had extended the state of emergency to the entire country, shortly after the army announced strikes in Lebanon, where Hezbollah said it had launched a large-scale attack against Israel to avenge the death of one of the country’s military leaders. “I am convinced that there is a high probability that an attack will be carried out against the civilian population also in other areas of the country where the declaration of ‘special situation’ on the domestic front does not apply,” writes Yoav Gallant in a decree.
“I hereby declare the ‘special situation’ […] in other areas of the country”, the text adds, specifying that this “is valid for 48 hours from 00:00”, i.e. 03:00 GMT on Sunday. “Declaration of a state of emergency allows the army to give instructions to civilians in Israel , especially to ban gatherings or close places,” his office specifies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to “do everything” to ensure the safety and return home of residents of northern Israel who were displaced for more than ten months after the army claimed to have attacked Hezbollah’s military capabilities in neighboring Lebanon .
The Pentagon assured that the United States was “ready to support” the defense of Israel as the Israeli army carried out strikes in Lebanon on Sunday to counter “a large-scale attack” launched by the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. “We continue to monitor the situation closely and have been very clear that the United States stands ready to support the defense of Israel,” a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement.
Iran also vowed to retaliate against Israel
The attacks come amid talks in Cairo aimed at trying to achieve a ceasefire in the war in the Gaza Strip. This was triggered by an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. Exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah have been almost daily since the start of the war in Gaza.
Since one of its senior military leaders, Fouad Chokr, was killed in an Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut on July 30, the Shiite formation has said it is preparing its response. Iran also vowed to respond to the assassination hours later of the former Hamas leader in Tehran, which it blames on Israel, sparking fears of a regional conflagration.