Israel kills most senior Hezbollah commander since war began
Israel has killed its most senior Hezbollah commander since the Oct 7 Hamas attack, prompting the Lebanon-based terror group to retaliate with a barrage of up to 160 rockets.
The militants’ response, one of the largest attacks in the escalating conflict on Israel’s border with Lebanon, targeted the city of Tiberias for the first time.
It was largely intercepted by Israel’s sophisticated Iron Dome air defence system.
No injuries have been reported so far as sirens wailed across Mount Meron and the Upper Galilee, urging citizens to seek cover.
However, several new blazes were reported in an area that has already seen widespread bushfires caused by rockets.
Hezbollah said it targeted several military sites in response to the killing of Taleb Abdullah, also known as Abu Taleb, in an alleged Israeli strike on Tuesday night on the southern Lebanese town of Jouaiyaa, nine miles from the border.
He had been identified by security sources as the terror group’s commander for the central region of the southern border strip.
He is the most senior commander to have been killed in the ongoing exchange of fire between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah over the past eight months.
The intensifying conflict in northern Israel comes as the US, Egypt and Qatar examine the response by Hamas to a proposed ceasefire deal.
Hamas submitted its formal response to the US-backed three-stage truce deal late on Tuesday night, calling it a “positive” response that opened a “wide pathway” to reach an agreement, but Israel said it was tantamount to a rejection.
Escalating conflict
Hezbollah has said it will not withdraw from the Lebanon border until the war in Gaza is over.
Although both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border have so far kept a lid on the conflict, the increasing frequency of rocket attacks and use of heavier weapons has fuelled fears of a major regional war.
Some 60,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes in the worst-affected areas, and about 100,000 Lebanese civilians, including many farmers, have also been displaced from the border region.
Israel’s air defence shield has been able to withstand most incoming fire, but slow-moving explosive drones have proven more difficult to block.
These are not fireworks to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. These are our aerial defense systems defending our civilians against a barrage of Hezbollah rockets in northern Israel. pic.twitter.com/Z6hoGDvpT8
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 11, 2024
On Tuesday evening, the IDF released a video of terrified Israeli families grabbing their children and running for shelter during a festival to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot as blasts destroyed incoming missiles overhead.
“These are not fireworks to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. These are our aerial defence systems defending our civilians against a barrage of Hezbollah rockets in northern Israel,” the IDF said on its X account.
