The IDF said Thursday that it carried out “extensive” airstrikes against Hezbollah terror group sites in southern Lebanon overnight, as the spiraling violence between the two sides showed no sign of losing momentum.
Attacks carried out by fighter jets targeted weapon depots, buildings used by Hezbollah and a rocket launcher, in 10 areas of southern Lebanon, according to an update from the military.
The widespread strikes come in response to a Hezbollah barrage of 50 rockets the previous day at the northern town of Katzrin that caused significant damage and wounded an Israeli man.
Meanwhile, rocket and drone alert sirens sounded in the border town of Kiryat Shmona and a number of other communities in the Galilee on Thursday morning. No injuries were reported.
The widespread IDF strikes also came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at Israel’s offensive capabilities in the north, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for a harsh response to the Hezbollah attack on Katzrin.
Most of the projectiles fired by Hezbollah were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, but several hit Katzrin, causing heavy damage to homes and injuring a man in his 30s.
The 33-year-old sustained superficial shrapnel injuries to the body and face and was in mild to moderate condition, Ziv Medical Center said. He also had a foot fracture, but was fully conscious.
Visiting the Golan Heights town on Wednesday, Ben Gvir demanded a harsh response to Hezbollah and greater influence over the management of the cross-border conflict in the north.
“One of the reasons I am so demanding to enter the limited cabinet is what is happening here now,” the ultranationalist minister declared in Katzrin. “You also have to attack, you also have to make a campaign. This is the opportunity we must not miss.
“The State of Israel needs to respond in the most unequivocal, clearest way,” he added.
Ben Gvir has repeatedly demanded inclusion in the now-defunct war cabinet, though Netanyahu has consistently refused his demands and is widely regarded as deeply distrusting of the firebrand Otzma Yehudit leader due to his tendency to leak information to the press.
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