Hezbollah rockets kill seven people in northern Israel

Hezbollah rockets kill seven people in northern Israel

By Joshua Marks

Seven people were killed and one person was seriously wounded on Thursday in two separate Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel’s north.

The first attack triggered sirens at 11:37 a.m., and two projectiles from Lebanon landed in an open area outside the largely evacuated Upper Galilee city of Metula, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The fatalities were an Israeli farmer and four foreign workers, and the seriously wounded individual was another foreign worker, Metula council head David Azoulai told the Kan News channel. The Israeli casualty was named as Omer Weinstein, 47, from Kibbutz Dafna.

Later on Thursday, another attack from Lebanon killed two people, while lightly wounding another, in a field off Route 79 near the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Ata, Magen David Adom first responders reported.

“Paramedics provided medical treatment and CPR, following which a 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman were pronounced dead, and a 71-year-old man was evacuated to Rambam Hospital due to minor shrapnel wounds,” the emergency service said in a statement.

Three Israelis were wounded in Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel on Wednesday, according to medics.

A 70-year-old man was lightly wounded when rocket shrapnel hit his car in the Upper Galilee, the Magen David Adom emergency service said. The victim suffered a minor head wound and was evacuated to Ziv Hospital in Safed.

Earlier, two farmers were wounded, including one seriously, when a Hezbollah rocket struck an agricultural field near the evacuated Israeli border town of Metula. The other victim was lightly wounded.

On Wednesday morning, the Iran-backed terror army launched a missile that triggered sirens as far south as Netanya. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the missile broke up in the air.

The IDF also reported that three drones had crossed from Lebanon into the Western Galilee, all of which were intercepted. No injuries were reported in the incidents.

Additionally, a drone strike early Wednesday in Nahariya caused minor damage to an aerospace component facility. The IDF was investigating why alarms weren’t triggered by the attack.

Hezbollah regional commander killed in IAF strike

An Israeli strike in Lebanon this week killed a Hezbollah regional anti-tank missile commander, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Thursday.

Muhammad Khalil Alian was eliminated in an attack in the Southern Lebanese village of Burj Qallawiyah, according to the IDF.

He led the Iranian proxy’s anti-tank missile array in the Hajir area as part of the terrorist group’s “Nasser” unit, which is responsible for attacks on northern Israel’s Ramim Ridge region.

According to the Alma Research and Education Center, Nasser is one of three geographic units operating under Hezbollah’s southern front command.

“The Nasser unit is responsible for the area between the border with Israel and the Litani River … together with the Aziz unit,” according to Alma.

“Since Oct. 8, 2023, the Nasser unit has been a very central element in the fighting against Israel. Its operatives (the vast majority of whom live in southern Lebanon) are responsible for many of the rocket, mortar, UAV and anti-tank missile launches into northern Israel,” the Alma article continued.

 Also Wednesday, the Israeli Air Force eliminated a terrorist cell in Hezbollah’s aerial unit that had launched a rocket at an IAF aircraft in the area of Mazraat El Yahoudiyeh, north of Tyre.

Over the past 24 hours, 150 Hezbollah and Hamas targets were hit in Lebanon and Gaza, respectively, according to the IDF.