Hezbollah Retaliates With Major Missile Strikes on Israel

Lebanon-based militant and political group Hezbollah launched a large-scale attack into parts of northern Israel overnight, the Israeli military said, as long-running tensions at the border threaten to spill over into a broader war.

"During the night and the morning hours, approximately 150 rockets, cruise missiles, and UAVs [uncrewed aerial vehicles] were launched toward Israeli territory, most of them aimed at northern Israel," the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday.

Air defenses "prevented significant damage," the IDF said, but added that a "small number" of hits were reported, with some debris from intercepted targets falling in the territory.

Nearly a year of cross-border fire between Israel's military and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon has teetered on the edge of a wider conflict.

Shortly after Israel launched its war on Gaza-based Palestinian militant group Hamas following the shock attacks on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah launched assaults into Israel's north in what it described as actions in solidarity with Hamas. Both organizations are designated terrorist groups by the United States.

Around 1,200 Israelis were killed on October 7, and more than 250 people were taken hostage in Gaza. A total of 97 taken nearly a year ago remain unaccounted for.

Israel, vowing to destroy Hamas, launched a full-scale operation into Gaza that has destroyed much of the strip of land that was one of the most densely-populated territories in the world. More than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-run health authorities. Aid organizations and many international observers have consistently warned of a devastating humanitarian crisis unfurling in the Gaza Strip.

Aside from the war in Gaza, Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters have exchanged fire across the border, with more than 60,000 Israelis internally displaced, and an estimated 100,000 people in southern Lebanon forced to move from their homes.

Hezbollah said early on Sunday that it had targeted "several areas" more than 50 kilometers, around 30 miles, into Israel, including the Ramat David air base close to the northwestern Israeli city of Haifa, using Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles.

The group said in a separate statement that it had once again attacked the Ramat David base, followed by another belonging to Israeli defense manufacturer Rafael close to Haifa. Newsweek understands the Rafael facility is operating as normal.

Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, was visiting the Ramat David air base on Wednesday when he said a "new phase" of the war was starting, adding that his country was "diverting forces, resources, and energy toward the north."

"Dozens of rockets hit Israel which destroyed homes, cars and communities," IDF international spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday. The IDF said air alerts were activated several times in the north of the country overnight.

On Saturday, the IDF had said it had launched strikes on around 180 "Hezbollah targets and thousands of launcher barrels" in southern Lebanon. The attacks came just a day after Israel said it had killed Ibrahim Aqil, thought to be the commander of elite Hezbollah forces, and other senior figures in a strike on the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Hezbollah separately said Aqil had been killed. Lebanese media reported on Sunday that the death toll from the Israeli attack had risen to 46.

Earlier in the week, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded in Lebanon, killing dozens of people and injuring approximately 3,000 others, including civilians and children. Hezbollah and Lebanon blamed Israel, whose authorities have not publicly confirmed nor denied their involvement.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the United Nations' special coordinator for Lebanon, described the situation on Sunday as "on the brink of an imminent catastrophe."

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