Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at northern Israel from southern Lebanon

The Shiite militia-party Hezbollah fired dozens of projectiles at northern Israel on Friday, saying the targets were military installations, amid heightened tensions following two days of coordinated explosions of the group’s communications devices, attacks blamed on Israel that have left nearly 40 dead and some 3,000 wounded.

The group has indicated that in the last few hours it has attacked a “position of enemy soldiers” in Matla with “a guided missile”, after which it has launched dozens of Katyusha-type projectiles against the headquarters of an Armored Brigade and the 36th Division in Al Aliqa, according to the Lebanese television channel Al Manar, linked to Hezbollah.

The group also confirmed the deaths of two of its members – identified as Muhamad Ali Hassan al-Zein and Yusef Muhamad al-Sayid – as a result of the latest Israeli attacks, without specifying whether they were victims of the explosions of communication devices blamed on Israel or of the latest Israeli Army bombings against Lebanese territory.

The Israeli army has indicated that Hezbollah has fired 120 projectiles in the last few hours against the north of the country and has stated that “some have been intercepted by air defense systems,” although others have hit Israeli territory, causing fires “in multiple areas.”

In response to this situation, the Army has called on civilians living in several areas in the north of the country to reduce their movements outside their homes and avoid crowded places due to the risk of being hit by projectiles, hours after ending these movement restrictions, as reported by the Israeli newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’.

He also confirmed new bombings against the group in southern Lebanon, including one against a building where a Hezbollah “terrorist” was staying. In addition, “military buildings” belonging to the group have been attacked at several points across the border.

The Israeli army bombed nearly a hundred targets allegedly linked to Hezbollah on Thursday afternoon, in one of the largest attacks by Israel since clashes began almost a year ago following the attacks carried out on October 7, 2023 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and other Palestinian factions.

On Thursday, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah accused Israel of causing an “unprecedented massacre” and “crossing all ‘red lines'” by blowing up thousands of communications devices in the country, and warned that Israelis would not be able to return to their homes in the north of the country, given the threat of an expansion of the conflict.

He said that the communication devices were not only in the possession of Hezbollah members, but that they were devices “widespread in different layers of society.” The explosions surprised civilians who were in hospitals, markets or on the street, he argued, before stating that “Israel tried to kill more than 5,000 people.”

The escalation of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah – a group supported by Iran that has significant military and political clout in Lebanon – has raised fears of the possibility of an expansion of the conflict in the Middle East. In this context, the Israeli army presented its “operational plans” regarding Lebanon to the United States last week.