BEIRUT: Hezbollah on Saturday said it launched a drone and missile attack on an Israeli military base near the coastal city of Haifa on Friday, targeting an air defence base and an explosives factory.
The Lebanese group said that at 8:00 pm local time (1700 GMT), its fighters carried out “an air attack with a swarm of explosives-laden drones” on the Israeli air defence base. Hezbollah also reported launching a salvo of missiles at the Israeli military base, which they claim housed an explosives factory south of Haifa.
The Israeli military has yet to confirm the full extent of the damage but acknowledged intercepting a projectile launched from Lebanon. Air raid sirens blared across northern Israel in response to the attack.
On Saturday, Israel warned residents in southern Lebanon not to return to their homes. Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee, in a message posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), warned that “anyone who goes south may put his life at risk.”
Since September 23, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to figures from the Lebanese health ministry. The Israeli violence has displaced over a million people, forcing them to flee from the southern region.
Hezbollah in a statement said, “Israeli enemy army uses the homes” of Israelis in north Israel, and has army bases inside residential “neighborhoods in major occupied cities such as Tiberias, Haifa, Acre”.
The group warned Israelis from being near these army gatherings to preserve their lives.
Lebanon health ministry said on Friday that 60 people were killed and 168 others wounded in the last 24 hours. This update came just hours following Israeli forces fired on the headquarters of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, injuring two peacekeepers for the second consecutive day.
These latest figures bring the total death toll from the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel to 2,229, with 10,380 injured over the past year.
The casualty count marked a significant increase, with 22 people killed and 117 injured due to two Israeli strikes in central Beirut, which resulted in the collapse of two residential compounds housing families and displaced people.
The crisis response unit also reported 57 airstrikes and shelling incidents in the past day, mainly affecting southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley.
On Friday, Israel faced severe diplomatic backlash over what it said was a “hit” on a United Nations peacekeeping mission (UNIFIL) base in Naqura, Lebanon. Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were injured in the attack, which marked the second incident involving UNIFIL in as many days. Irish and French officials, whose countries are major contributors to the UN force, condemned the strike.
The Irish military’s chief of staff, Sean Clancy, said the attack on the peacekeepers was “not an accidental act,” while French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the UN personnel appeared to have been “deliberately targeted.”
Meanwhile, four UNIFIL peacekeepers have been wounded in recent days, including two Indonesians who were injured when an Israeli tank fired at their watchtower.
Despite these incidents, diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the fighting have so far failed. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that his government would seek a UN Security Council resolution calling for a full and immediate ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, visited the site of a recent Israeli airstrike in Lebanon that reportedly targeted Hezbollah’s security chief, Wafiq Safa. While neither Hezbollah nor Israel confirmed Safa’s status, Lebanese health ministry figures indicated that 22 people were killed in the strike earlier in the week.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed that the country’s response to Iran’s missile attack will be “deadly, precise, and surprising.”
The United States, while backing Israel’s right to defend itself, has urged a proportionate response to prevent the conflict from spiraling into a broader regional war. President Joe Biden has also cautioned Israel against targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities or energy infrastructure.
