Following Hezbollah’s interception of an
Israeli drone on Monday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said it was
attacking the terrorist organization “deep inside Lebanon,” with reports
of an attack in the area of Baalbek, located about 42 miles northeast
of Beirut.
Fighter jets struck sites used by
Hezbollah’s air defense array in the Beqaa Valley, “in response to the
launch of surface-to-air missiles towards an unmanned aerial vehicle of
the ‘Hermes 450’ type, that fell earlier today,” according to the IDF
spokesperson.
The strikes are the deepest attack carried out by the IDF in Lebanese territory since the beginning of the war.
The Beirut-based An-Nahar
newspaper reported that two people were killed in the attack on the
Baalbek area and Hezbollah confirmed that two of its members were killed
in three Israeli strikes. The terrorist group also claimed that a
warehouse that was hit contained food for its al-Sajjad project, which
sells food and consumables at below-market prices at Hezbollah grocery
stores in the group’s strongholds.
The IDF identified the terror operative
targeted in the strike as Hassan Hossein Salami, the head of Hezbollah’s
eastern command.
Hezbollah commander Hassan Hussein Salami was targeted by IDF fighter jets on Feb. 26, 2024
“Salami belongs to the Nasr unit of the
Hezbollah terrorist organization and commanded recent terrorist
activities against IDF forces and civilian and military targets in the
north of the country,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari tweeted.
Shortly after the Israeli strikes were
reported, air-raid sirens sounded in Western Galilee communities, with
first responders saying that one person was lightly wounded when a
rocket fired from Lebanon hit a chicken coop in the border moshav of
Shtula. The victim is listed in good condition with shrapnel wounds.
Hezbollah subsequently announced it had
launched a volley of 60 rockets at the Golan Heights in retaliation for
the Baalbek strike.
“In response to the Zionist aggression
near the city of Baalbek,” Hezbollah targeted a military base in the
Golan Heights “with 60 Katyusha rockets,” the terror group claimed in a
statement.
The Shi’ite terrorist organization took responsibility for downing the UAV, and the IDF later confirmed the incident.
According to the military, the David’s Sling
medium-range air defense system intercepted a surface-to-air missile
fired at the Israeli Air Force UAV, which triggered air-raid sirens in
the area of Alon Tavor in the Jezreel Valley region of northern Israel.
However, a second enemy missile was then launched at the drone, downing
it.
Hezbollah said in a statement that the drone was a Hermes 450, and that it was brought down over the Nabatieh area.
Made by Haifa-based Elbit Systems, the
Hermes 450 is one of Israel’s largest and most sophisticated drones,
with a wingspan of more than 34 feet and a maximum speed of 100-plus
miles per hour.
Israel will continue to expand its
airstrikes on Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon, even if Jerusalem
reaches a ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed during a visit to the military’s Northern Command headquarters in Safed on Sunday.
“In the event of a temporary truce in
Gaza, we will increase the fire in the north, and will continue until
the full withdrawal of Hezbollah [from the border] and the return of the
[Upper Galilee] residents to their homes,” Gallant said.
Hezbollah attacks have killed six
civilians and 10 IDF soldiers since the Iran-backed Shi’ite militia
joined the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8. Some 80,000 Israelis have
been displaced from their homes in communities within six miles of the
Lebanese border as a result of the ongoing attacks.
“We are planning to increase the firepower
against Hezbollah, which is unable to find replacements for the
commanders we are eliminating,” Gallant said on Sunday.
“The goal is simple—to push Hezbollah back
to where it should be. Either by [diplomatic] agreement, or we will do
it by force,” he added.
Two Hezbollah members were killed in an
IAF strike in Syria early Sunday, according to the U.K.-based war
monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The attack occurred near the Lebanese
border, in an area overlapping the governorates of Homs and the Damascus
countryside, according to the NGO.
Three people were killed in the attack, according to the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese Al Mayadeen TV news channel.
Hezbollah on Sunday announced the deaths
of two of its members in the alleged Israeli strike: Ahmed Muhammad
al-Afi and Hussein Ali al-Dirani, both from the Beqaa area in Lebanon.
According to Hezbollah, 216 of its members have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.
At the start of February, the IDF said
that it attacked more than 50 targets belonging to Hezbollah and other
Iran-backed terrorist groups in Syria since Oct. 7.
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