It marked the largest Hezbollah attack on Israel since hostilities intensified earlier this month, as the terror group began attacks to support its sponsor, Iran, which is under intense attack from a joint US-Israel air campaign that began on February 28.
An opening salvo of 100 rockets was launched around 8 p.m. as a missile from Iran targeted the central region of the country, in what Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said was a coordinated attack. More Iranian missiles targeted the north and south of the country.
The Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted by air defenses, which also worked to thwart the Hezbollah attacks. However, several impacts were reported, causing fires, and two people were lightly injured.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said the two, a 35-year-old woman and a man in his 50s, were hit by “flying objects” following an impact. They were taken to a hospital.
According to rescue services, a rocket that struck a home in the northern town of Bi’ina injured one of the two victims. Four others were treated for acute anxiety at the scene.
As the Israel Defense Forces instructed residents of the north to stay close to shelters, Hezbollah continued firing rockets alongside drones, with sirens set off across the Galilee and in Haifa, as well as in communities up to 50 kilometers from the border with Lebanon.
In all, the terror group fired at least 150 rockets at the north over the course of several hours, according to IDF assessments.
A number of long-range rockets fired by Hezbollah also struck open areas. Because the rockets were heading for open areas, no sirens were activated by the military. Sounds of explosions were reported by residents of central Israel amid the attack.
The attacks continued into early Thursday, with suspected drone infiltration and rocket alerts sounding in Nahariya and a number of Western Galilee communities, as well as Acre and some of Haifa’s northern suburbs. Hezbollah also fired long-range rockets, setting off sirens in Tel Aviv and surrounding towns, amid which the IDF announced the detection of an Iranian ballistic missile, which triggered alerts in central Israel, the Jerusalem area and parts of the south.
Some of projectiles were intercepted, according to initial military assessments. Police reported damage was caused by an impact in central Israel. Fragments following the interceptions also reportedly fell in several areas.
The IDF, meanwhile, launched heavy airstrikes on Hezbollah’s strongholds in southern Beirut, while an Israeli official said the military could begin hitting civilian infrastructure if the Lebanese government fails to rein in Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The IDF earlier warned that Hezbollah would likely attempt to increase its rate of rocket and drone attacks on Israel.
Hezbollah’s opening barrage of rockets was launched from several areas in Lebanon. The terror group, in a statement, said that “in response to the criminal aggression against dozens of Lebanese cities and towns and Beirut’s southern suburbs,” its fighters targeted sites in northern Israel “with dozens of rockets” as part of a new operation announced a short time earlier.
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