Explosions Rock Israeli Capital
Lebanese group, Hezbollah, has conducted extensive rocket attacks on various targets throughout Israel as artillery fire impacted border villages.
The aggressive move followed Israeli Defense Forces’ nighttime raids in southern Lebanon.
Air raid sirens rang out in northern and central Israel, triggering defensive measures, although some projectiles managed to penetrate, Mail Online reports.
Images and videos from social media displayed remnants of intercepted rockets strewn in the streets, accompanied by smoke rising from buildings within.
Israel has not yet commented on the impact of the strikes, but Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the IDF’s overnight raids in southern Lebanon were launched to prevent Hezbollah from conducting an “October 7-style massacre.”
“Hezbollah turned Lebanese villages next to Israeli villages into military bases ready for an attack on Israel,” he said.
“These localised ground raid raids will target Hezbollah strongholds that threaten Israeli towns, kibbutzim and communities along our border.”
But more hardline elements of Israel’s government, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, this morning called for a wider operation to ‘crush the terrorist organisation’.
The Israeli military said the operations in Lebanon began on Monday night and involved the elite 98th division, which was deployed to the northern front two weeks ago from Gaza where they had been fighting against Hamas for months.
It said its air force and artillery supported ground troops engaged in ‘limited, localised, and targeted ground raids’ against Hezbollah in southern Lebanese villages.
The ground operation, which comes nearly a year on from Hamas’ October 7 attacks, was given the green light yesterday, three days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was confirmed dead following a devastating attack in Beirut.
Meanwhile, Israel’s air force continued to pound targets across Lebanon with brutal airstrikes, while also hitting Damascus in Syria and various locations in Gaza.
Dystopian images that emerged early this morning showed Israeli flares and munitions lighting up the night sky in southern Lebanon, softening up Hezbollah positions in preparation for the IDF incursion.
Following the overnight raids, IDF officials this morning called on residents in more than 20 areas in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes, signalling more ground operations were imminent.
“The IDF (Israeli military) does not want to harm you, and for your own safety you must evacuate your homes immediately.
“Anyone who is near Hezbollah members, installations and combat equipment is putting his life in danger,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
Israel has dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah in the past two weeks.
It successfully pulled off a ruthless covert operation that saw thousands of rigged communication devices explode in the hands of Hezbollah members, and proceeded to launch a devastating campaign of airstrikes.
Hezbollah chief Nasrallah – a towering figure who turned the group into Lebanon’s top military and political force – was assassinated last week along with several other senior commanders in one of those strikes.
Now, Israel has indicated it is primed for a full-fledged invasion of Lebanon, with the stated aim of enabling thousands of its citizens who fled Hezbollah rockets to safely return to their communities near the northern border.
The deployment of boots on the ground overnight to conduct raids on southern Lebanese villages closest to the border represents a significant escalation in Israel’s war against its enemy to the north.
The IDF said that its incursion, dubbed ‘Operation Northern Arrows’, will continue ‘according to the situational assessment and in parallel to combat in Gaza and in other arenas’.
Officials warned Lebanese citizens not to drive south of the Litani river to avoid being caught up in fighting or airstrikes.
