Hezbollah steps up rocket attacks on Israel in retaliation for attacks
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
First responders and Israeli security forces gather amid debris and charred vehicles in Kiryat Bialik in the Haifa district of Israel following a strike by Hezbollah on Sept. 22, 2024. Photo: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
Hezbollah fired medium-range rockets toward Haifa on Sunday morning local time in response to a series of deadly attacks last week, significantly expanding the range of its attacks against Israel.
Why it matters: The latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is fueling fears about an all-out war between them.
- Israel retaliated on Sunday, killing at least three people in Lebanon, including a Hezbollah member, and wounding several others, according to the Lebanese health ministry and to Hezbollah.
- Israeli emergency services said at least 10 Israeli civilians were injured. Israel said they intercepted most of the rockets or they hit open areas.
The latest: President Biden told reporters on Saturday that he is worried about the escalating fighting in Lebanon.
- "We're going to do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out. And we're still pushing hard," he said.
Driving the news: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday vowed to retaliate for a series of Israeli overt and covert attacks over the past week that killed dozens of people, including at least five children, and wounded thousands more. Many were members of Hezbollah's military units and institutions.
- On Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry said 48 people died in the Israeli strike in Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah said at least 16 of those killed were military commanders in the group, including its head of military operations, Ibrahim Aqil.
- The IDF said about 150 rockets were fired by Hezbollah into Israeli territory on Sunday.
- Air raids were heard in many towns and villages in the Haifa area and farther south in Nazareth, Afula and Yokne'am. No sirens were heard in Haifa itself.
Hezbollah said in a statement that a target of the attack was Israel's Ramat David Air Force base, which is located more than 30 miles from the border with Lebanon.
- Several hours later the group fired two additional rocket barrages toward the base. Hezbollah last tried to attack the Ramat David base during the 2006 war.
- Hezbollah said in its statement that it had fired dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 rockets in a response to "the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the killing of civilians."
- The group launched rockets with a range of 80 and 105 kilometers (about 50 and 90 miles).
- Hezbollah has repeatedly fired rockets toward Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians since the war in Gaza began, but these are the longest-range rockets fired in nearly a year of war.
Hezbollah also fired rockets towards Haifa for the first time since Oct. 8.
- The group said one of the targets was a missile factory and said the attack was an initial response for the deadly attacks last week involving the remote detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies.
What they're saying: "No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can't accept it either. We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
What to watch: Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant spoke on the phone with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and briefed him on the situation.
- Gallant said in a visit to an Israeli Air Force command and control center on Sunday: "Activities will continue until we reach a point where we may ensure the safe return of [the residents of] Israel's northern communities to their homes. This is our goal, this is our mission, and we will employ the means necessary to achieve it."
Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout with new details.
