The Israeli military announced that it had carried out an attack in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, against Hezbollah targets, with the official news agency reporting that at least five people had died. “The Israel Defense Forces carried out a targeted attack in Beirut. For the time being, there is no change in the defensive orientations of the Home Front Command,” the armed forces said.
For its part, Hezbollah launched 150 rockets against northern Israel in several waves on Friday, as reported by the Israeli army. Some were intercepted and the others fell in open spaces.
Israeli warplanes launched more than 50 bombing raids on several areas in southern and southeastern Lebanon on Thursday, amid growing tensions in the country, local television channel Al Manar, which belongs to the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, reported.
“The number of aerial bombardments carried out by the Zionist enemy amounts to 52 against the areas of Al Hargiya in Al Mahmudeya, the outskirts of Al Aishiya, the heights of Rihan and the surroundings of Nahr Barhaz,” said the channel, which acts as a mouthpiece of armed training.
The Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) also confirmed “a series” of airstrikes against areas concentrated in the Jezzine region, quite far from the common border but within the range of action previously used by the Jewish state.
The attacks come hours after hundreds of Hezbollah members exploded pagers and walkie-talkies, and after Hezbollah leader said it was a “declaration of war.” Israel, for its part, is calling it a “new phase.”
Israel confirms responsibility for attacks
The Israeli army confirmed on Thursday evening airstrikes against a hundred missile launchers of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, some of which were “ready to fire against Israel”, according to its statements.
According to the military statement released a few minutes before midnight, Israeli fighters bombarded intensively for two hours, “under the direction of intelligence” from the army, attacking about 100 launchers and additional infrastructure that, in total, contained about 1,000 barrels of rocket launchers.
The army “will continue to operate to degrade the infrastructure and capabilities” of Hezbollah in order to “defend” the State of Israel, the text details.
The Lebanese television channel Al Manar, owned by Hezbollah, already reported yesterday evening more than fifty Israeli attacks near the border, while the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) confirmed bombings against areas located in the Jezzine region, quite far from the common border but within the radius of action previously covered by the Jewish state.
This is the second wave of attacks against southern Lebanon carried out by Israel in recent hours, after the army bombed 30 other launch pads and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in the afternoon.
All this, in the midst of growing tension between the parties, after this week two waves of simultaneous explosions of thousands of communications devices carried by Hezbollah members killed 37 people and injured nearly 3,000 on Lebanese territory.
