The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that it carried out an airstrike against a site belonging to Hezbollah’s air defense unit in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek, hours after the terror group carried out an explosive drone attack on northern Israel, wounding 14 soldiers and four civilians,
In a short statement, the IDF said fighter jets struck Hezbollah air defense infrastructure north of the city of Baalbek, almost 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Israeli border.
According to Lebanese media, the strike took place near the town of Iaat.
Baalbek has been identified in the past as a Hezbollah stronghold. The strike marked the sixth time amid the war in the Gaza Strip that Israel struck Hezbollah positions in the Baalbek area.
The airstrike deep in Lebanon came in response to the explosive drone attack in the northern border town of Arab al-Aramshe.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted a building being used by the Israeli military with guided missiles and explosive-laden drones.
According to the IDF’s initial probe, Hezbollah fired two anti-tank missiles at the town, before launching the drones, which directly hit a community center.
Though the town has been largely evacuated, soldiers are stationed there and may have used the building as a gathering space.
The victims were taken to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, which said that one was listed in critical condition and four others were seriously wounded. The remaining victims were moderately and lightly hurt, the hospital added.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, 14 of the victims were soldiers, including the five listed in critical and serious condition. The four civilian victims were all lightly hurt.
The terror group said the attack was a response to the killing of three of its members, including two commanders, in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon a day earlier.
Warning sirens did not sound. The IDF was investigating why the alarms were not activated before the strike, and why the drone was not intercepted.
Footage posted to social media showed the explosive-laden drone crashing down on the community center.
Not long after the strike, alarms warning of incoming rockets sounded twice in Arab al-Aramshe.
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