Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File | Photo credit: AP
Israel carried out several precise attacks Attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday (August 25, 2024) said it had destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers and foiled a major attack. While the Lebanese group insisted it was able to carry out its own drone and rocket barrages.
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The Israeli military said about 100 of its warplanes attacked more than 270 targets, “90%” of which were “short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel”.
The attacks, which began at 5 am local time, also resorted to mid-air refueling to ensure the effectiveness of the military operation aimed at neutralizing the growing threat posed by Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video of the strikes “to prevent a large-scale terrorist attack by Hezbollah.” “Our operation in Lebanon targeted the terrorist infrastructure that Hezbollah was planning to use against us, protecting Israeli families and homes,” the IDF said.
The army said one Israeli naval soldier was killed and two others were injured in the fighting.
Netanyahu warns Lebanon strikes will not be ‘final decision’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Sunday’s attacks in Lebanon are “not the last word” in his country’s military campaign against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
“We are delivering stunning, devastating blows to Hezbollah… This is another step toward changing the situation in the north and returning our residents safely to their homes. And, I repeat, this is not the final word,” he told a cabinet meeting.
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He said, “Additionally, the IDF (Israeli army) destroyed all drones fired by Hezbollah at strategic targets in central Israel”, though he did not name the targets.
Hezbollah said it had attacked with drones and rockets
Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Lebanese armed group, denied that thousands of launchers had been destroyed or that Israel had thwarted any major attack. It said its own operation had been “completed and succeeded”.
Hezbollah said its militants fired “a large number of drones” and “more than 320” Katyusha rockets targeting “enemy targets” across the border.
The group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has named the Glilot military intelligence base near Tel Aviv, which Israeli media have reported is the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency, as their “main target”.
(With inputs from AFP)