Hezbollah Opens New Front, Fires Rockets and Drones Into Israel
Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel for the first time in 18 months on Monday, Israeli officials said, prompting retaliatory Israeli strikes into Lebanon and marking a significant escalation after the Lebanese terror group joined the conflict that began with a US-Israeli joint operation against Iran.
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it intercepted a rocket intended to strike a missile defense site in Haifa as additional projectiles landed in open areas. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the fire into Israel.
Israeli airstrikes later targeted sites in Lebanon, including a strike in Beirut in which the IDF said it aimed at a senior Hezbollah terrorist.
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Speaking at a General Staff forum, Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the army had “launched an offensive campaign against Hezbollah,” after the group entered the fighting against Israel. The remarks came as Israel signaled it was prepared for expanded operations along its northern border.
The Iran-backed armed group said earlier it would “confront the aggression” of the United States and Israel following their strikes on Iran. In a statement issued Sunday, mourning Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the group would carry out its duty and would not abandon what he described as the “field of honor and resistance.”
Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel intends to target Hezbollah’s leadership, mentioning Qassem directly. “The Hezbollah terror organization will pay a heavy price for the firing toward Israel, and Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s secretary general, who decided on the firing under pressure from Iran, from now on, he is a marked target for elimination,” Katz wrote on X
He added that whoever “follows the path” of Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by Israel on Saturday, “will soon find himself together with him in the depths of hell with all those eliminated from the axis of evil.”
Hezbollah had remained on the sidelines during the 12-day direct conflict between Israel and Iran last June. Israeli officials said the latest attacks marked a departure from that stance and warned that further Hezbollah fire would be met with intensified military action.
