Hezbollah said that it has fired a significant number of drones following Israel’s early Sunday preemptive assault on Lebanon.
Following Israel’s preemptive strikes in Lebanon just hours earlier, the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah declared early on Sunday that it had conducted 11 strikes on Israel using a significant number of Katyusha rockets, according to news agency AP.
Hezbollah launched the attack as payback for last month’s strike that killed the group’s senior commander, Fouad Shukur, in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Hezbollah declared that they were hitting “a number of enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome platforms” in addition to “a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later.”
Knowing that the terrorist organization was getting ready to attack Israel, the Israeli military had stated in advance that it would launch its own strikes against Hezbollah locations in Lebanon.
The Israeli military announced in an early Sunday morning statement to the people living in southern Lebanon, as reported by the news agency AP: “We are monitoring Hezbollah’s preparations to carry out large-scale attacks on Israeli territory near your homes.” There is a risk to you. We are taking out Hezbollah threats by hitting them.
The message on Telegram stated, “Anyone who is near areas where Hezbollah operates should leave immediately to protect themselves and their families.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a 48-hour countrywide state of emergency following the strike, citing a “special situation on the homefront.”
“The declaration on the state of emergency enables the IDF (Israeli military) to issue instructions to the citizens of Israel, including limiting gatherings and closing sites where it may be relevant,” he stated in a press release.
Additionally, a directive was issued to halt all takeoffs and landings at Israel’s international Ben Gurion airport for a few hours.
As negotiators were gathering in Cairo in a desperate attempt to reach an agreement on a cessation of violence in Gaza and the repatriation of Israeli and foreign captives in exchange for Palestinian inmates, the attacks may have a depressing effect on ceasefire discussions.
