Hezbollah fires massive 48-rocket barrage at northern Israel, IDF strikes back

Hezbollah’s almost non-stop attacks against Israel since 8:30 a.m. on Thursday culminated in a 48-rocket barrage, one of the biggest attacks so far since the outbreak of the skirmishes between Israel and the Lebanese terror organization on Oct. 8.

Hezbollah claimed to have fired 48 Katyusha rockets at an IDF army base in Ein Zeitim, a few kilometers northwest of the city of Safed.

The IDF later confirmed that 35 rockets crossed into Israeli territory, while unconfirmed footage on Lebanese social media showed several rocket impacts in Lebanese towns near the border.

Lebanese media seen as close to the terror group noted that the distance between the border and Ein Zeitim is 10 km (about 6 miles), the same distance as Hezbollah's Radwan Force Command Center that was hit by an IDF strike last night, implying that this was seen as a direct revenge for the attack that killed five terrorists.

Among the dead was Abbas Raad, the son of the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc.

The massive barrage was one of the largest attacks on the northern border so far, which activated siren alerts from the border communities of Iron, Dovev and Baram all the way to Birya, near Safed.

The rockets were either intercepted or fell in open areas, causing several wildfires.

Immediately after, two anti-tank missiles were fired at Kibbutz Manara, hitting two homes there. Hezbollah again took responsibility and claimed to have struck an IDF staging ground near the kibbutz.

No reports about injuries or substantial damage from the attacks have been reported so far.

Since the morning, there have been attacks almost every hour against targets all along Israel’s northern border, from Betzet and Shlomi in the Western Galilee near the Mediterranean coast to the Muslim-Bedouin village Arab al-Aramshe in the center to Margaliot in the Upper Galilee.

An additional attempted attack by an anti-tank missile squad near Zar’it was thwarted by an IDF aircraft in the morning, the army said. In response, Israel Defense Forces shelled the launch areas of the attacks against Israel with artillery.

The tensions on Israel's northern border on Thursday morning were a direct continuation of the skirmishes last night, with Israel attacking the headquarters of the Radwan Force, and also intercepting a surface-to-air missile fired at an IDF aircraft.

The Israeli army responded by destroying the missile launcher and a weapons cache.

Hezbollah has so far announced that 85 of its soldiers were killed in the fighting, “on the way to Jerusalem,” as per the organization’s statements.

Hezbollah’s increased attacks may also be a reaction to Israel widening its strikes against the organization in Syria.

Syrian media reported that Israel allegedly struck a building in southern Damascus on Wednesday. The next day, the target turned out to be the command center of Hezbollah and the other Shia militias in Syria, according to Syrian media reports.