'Work isn't done' - Hezbollah resumes attacks on Israel after 24 quiet hours following Sunday’s escalation

Israel’s northern front heated up again on Monday, following over 24 hours of relative quiet across most of northern Israel following the intense exchange of fire with the Hezbollah terrorist group on Sunday morning.

The IDF thwarted a plan by Hezbollah to launch around 500-600 rockets at Israel early in the morning by striking first and bombarding over 1,000 separate targets located in over 40 rocket launch areas across southern Lebanon.

“We are very determined to continue to harm Hezbollah, to eliminate more and more commanders, and to deprive it of assets and capabilities - we are not stopping,” said IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Monday evening.

“Hezbollah has more capabilities and the work is not yet complete,” he added.

Northern Israel remained quiet all day except for drone infiltration sirens that were activated around the southeastern corner of the Sea of Galilee early in the morning. Army Radio reported that a drone launched from Syria was shot down.

Hezbollah resumed its attacks against Israel on Monday afternoon, with warning sirens blaring across large areas of the western and Upper Galilee indicating drone infiltrations and rocket attacks

In response, Israel Defense Forces began striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets struck military buildings in Kafr Kila and Tayr Harfa, the military said.

In addition, Arabic media outlets reported that the IDF struck a vehicle near the city of Sidon. According to the Saudi Al-Hadath newspaper, the target of the assassination attempt was a senior Hamas figure.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar claimed that Hamas official Nidal Khaleihal, who exited the vehicle shortly before two missiles hit it, was the target.

במהלך הלילה כ-100 מטוסים של חיל האוויר תקפו למעלה מ-270 מטרות במקביל בדרום לבנון. כ-90% מהמטרות שהותקפו היו רקטות ומשגרים לטווח קצר שכוונו לעבר צפון הארץ. כמו כן, חוסלו לפחות שישה מחבלים. כ-30 מחבלים ומפקדים חוסלו השבוע בלבנון. חיזבאללה שיגר כ-230 רקטות ומעל ל-20 כלי טיס בלתי… pic.twitter.com/9xvimNqDmK

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) August 25, 2024

Israeli media outlets continued to report more details about the IDF’s massive wave of strikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah’s foiled attack on Monday.

The IDF reportedly assessed that Hezbollah held off on launching accurate, precision-guided missiles at the IDF intelligence base in Glilot as part of the attack, fearing severe retribution by Israel.

According to Army Radio, the Israeli army believes Hezbollah intended to launch between 500-600 rockets at Israel’s north, and fire dozens of drones toward the center of the country.

Because Israeli intelligence lacked precise information about the intended targets and the scope of Hezbollah's attack, it was decided that IAF would strike thousands of individual targets to prevent as much of the attack as possible.

Israel’s pre-emptive strikes successfully thwarted more than half of the launches, with an estimated 200 rockets being fired at Israel.

In a second wave of strikes by the IDF in southern Lebanon this morning (25 Aug 2024), Hezbollah rocket launchers were destroyed west of Yater in what we exposed as a Hezbollah Military Zone two years earlier (05 Aug 2022). Pay attention to the involuntary ignition of a rocket… https://t.co/RwLxRKRHIw pic.twitter.com/8FmXfiyWLt

— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) August 25, 2024

While some rockets penetrated air defenses and caused some damage, all of the drones were shot down or crashed before reaching their intended target, according to the report.

Despite boasts by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a Sunday afternoon speech, the IDF reported that the farthest a drone managed to travel was just off the coast of Haifa.

“You have to take this event in the right proportions,” an IDF official told Army Radio. “This is just one operational point along the way, it is a successful operational event, but the challenge in Lebanon is far from over.”