Hezbollah hits back with rockets as it declares an 'open-ended battle' with Israel
Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early Sunday across northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon. A Hezbollah leader declared an 맥스카지노open-ended battle맥스카지노 was underway as both sides appeared to be spiraling closer toward all-out war.
The overnight rocket barrage was in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon that have killed dozens, including a veteran Hezbollah commander, and an unprecedented attack targeting the group맥스카지노s communications devices. Air raid sirens across northern Israel sent hundreds of thousands of people scrambling into shelters.
Hezbollah맥스카지노s deputy leader Naim Kassem said the rocket attack was just the beginning of what's now an 맥스카지노open-ended battle맥스카지노 with Israel.
맥스카지노We admit that we are pained. We are humans. But as we are pained 맥스카지노 you will also be pained,맥스카지노 Kassem said at the funeral of top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil.
One rocket struck near a residential building in Kiryat Bialik, a city near Haifa, wounding at least three people and setting buildings and cars ablaze. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said four people were wounded by shrapnel in the barrage.
Avi Vazana raced to a shelter with his wife and 9-month-old baby before he heard the rocket hitting in Kiryat Bialik. Then he went back outside to see if anyone was hurt.
맥스카지노I ran without shoes, without a shirt, only with pants. I ran to this house when everything was still on fire to try to find if there are other people,맥스카지노 he said.
Lebanon맥스카지노s Health Ministry said that three people were killed and another four wounded in Israeli strikes near the border, without saying whether they were civilians or combatants.
Hezbollah responds to unprecedented blows
The rocket barrage came after an Israeli airstrike Friday in Beirut killed at least 45 people, including Akil, one of Hezbollah맥스카지노s top leaders, several other fighters, and women and children. Hezbollah was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies to explode just days earlier.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take whatever action was necessary to restore security in the north and allow people to return to their homes.
맥스카지노No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can맥스카지노t accept it either,맥스카지노 he said.
In the United States, White House national security spokesman John Kirby remained hopeful for a peaceful resolution, telling 맥스카지노Fox News Sunday맥스카지노 the U.S. has been 맥스카지노involved in extensive and quite assertive diplomacy."
맥스카지노We are watching all these escalating tensions that have been occurring over the last week or so, with great concern, and we want to make sure that we can continue to do everything we can to try to prevent this from becoming an all-out war there with Hezbollah across that Lebanese border," he said.
Israel says it thwarted an even larger attack from Hezbollah
The Israeli military said it struck about 400 militant sites, including rocket launchers, across southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours, thwarting an even larger attack.
맥스카지노Hundreds of thousands of civilians have come under fire across a lot of northern Israel,맥스카지노 said Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman. "Today we saw fire that was deeper into Israel than before.맥스카지노
The military also said it had intercepted multiple aerial devices fired from the direction of Iraq, after Iran-backed militant groups there claimed to have launched a drone attack on Israel.
School was canceled across northern Israel, and the Health Ministry said all hospitals in the north would begin moving operations to protected areas within the medical centers.
In a separate development, Israeli forces raided the West Bank bureau of Al-Jazeera, which it had banned earlier this year, accusing it of serving as a mouthpiece for militant groups, allegations denied by the pan-Arab broadcaster.
U.N. envoy says the region is on the brink of a catastrophe
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the outbreak of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, when the militant group began firing rockets in solidarity with the Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas. The low-level fighting has killed dozens of people in Israel, hundreds in Lebanon, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the frontier.
Until recently, neither side was believed to be seeking an all-out war, and Hezbollah has so far stopped short of targeting Tel Aviv or major civilian infrastructure. But in recent weeks, Israel has shifted its focus from Gaza to Lebanon. Hezbollah has said it would only halt its attacks if the war in Gaza ends, as a cease-fire there appears increasingly elusive.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. They are still holding about 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It doesn't say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up more than half of the dead.
맥스카지노With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,맥스카지노 Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the U.N. envoy for Lebanon, said in an X post.
Families of Israeli hostages and residents of Gaza expressed fear that the fighting in Lebanon will direct international attention from their own plights.
맥스카지노I맥스카지노m incredibly concerned with the increased tensions with Hezbollah because, my biggest concern is that, all the public맥스카지노s attention and the world맥스카지노s attention맥스카지노 would be distracted, said Udi Goren, a relative of Tal Haimi, an Israeli man who was killed on Oct. 7 attack and whose body was taken into Gaza.
Hezbollah says it is using new weapons
Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles 맥스카지노 a new type of weapon the group hadn't used before 맥스카지노 at the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, 맥스카지노in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs.맥스카지노
In July, the group released a video with what it said was footage it had taken of the base with surveillance drones.
Hezbollah also said it had targeted the facilities of the Rafael defense firm, which is headquartered in Haifa, calling it retaliation for the wireless devices attack. It didn't provide evidence, and the Israeli military declined to comment on the statement.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel for a wave of explosions that hit pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people 맥스카지노 including two children 맥스카지노 and wounding about 3,000. The attacks were widely blamed on Israel, which hasn't confirmed or denied responsibility.
On Friday, an Israeli airstrike took down an eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in Beirut맥스카지노s southern suburbs as Hezbollah members were meeting in the basement, according to Israel. Among those killed was Akil., who commanded the group's special forces unit, known as the Radwan Force.
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Kareem Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Moshe Edri contributed from Kiryat Bialik.