LONDON — Sunday opened with a new barrage of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces, which continued its own campaign of cross-border strikes after a week of high-profile — and high-casualty — attacks across Lebanon.
The IDF said Hezbollah launched 115 rockets toward Israel on Sunday, of which were fired within 45 minutes. Hezbollah said the barrage was “an initial response” to Israel’s pager and walkie-talkie attacks in Lebanon last week.
In a statement, the group said it targeted facilities belonging to a military technology company and the Ramat David military base. Asked about the status of both, an IDF spokesman declined to comment.
At least four people in northern Israel were treated for shrapnel wounds, with several others treated for light and moderate injuries sustained while rushing to shelters, according to the Magen David Adom emergency service.
The IDF said it was striking “Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon” in response, having already bombed 400 targets through Saturday.
IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said in a Sunday morning briefing there was “heavy rocket fire by Hezbollah” across multiple northern regions, with several projectiles landed in areas including Kiryat Bialik, Zur Shalom and Moreshet, all close to the northern city of Haifa and some 20 miles from the Lebanese border.
An excavator removes a charred car at the scene of a strike by Lebanon’s Hezbollah in Kiryat Bialik in the Haifa district of Israel on September 22, 2024. Hezbollah said on September 22 that it targeted military production facilities and an air base near north Israel’s Haifa after the Israeli military pounded south Lebanon and said it targeted thousands of rocket launcher barrels.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
“This is a situation that is untolerable and Israel is committed to act to change this reality,” Shoshani said.
Cross-border fire has been near-constant since Oct. 8, when Hezbollah began attacks in protest of Israel’s latest offensive into the Gaza Strip, which followed Hamas’ Oct. 7 operation.
Hezbollah — which controls southern Lebanon and is backed by Iran — has vowed to continue its attacks until Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza.
Tensions have been steadily mounting on the Israel-Lebanon border as the war drags on and cease-fire negotiations fail.
Israeli leaders have long demanded Hezbollah withdraw its forces north of the Litani River — some 18 miles from the Israeli border — per a 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution that sought to end the last major clash between the two sides.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have left their homes in the border region since Oct. 8 under the threat of Hezbollah strikes. Their safe return is a key war goal for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.
The simmering conflict entered “a new phase” last week, in the words of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, after Israel’s covert operation to detonate communication devices carried by Hezbollah members.
Two consecutive days of explosions in Beirut and across Hezbollah’s southern heartland killed at least 37 people and wounded 2,931, according to Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad. At least one explosion was also reported in Syria.
Hezbollah suffered another serious security breach on Friday, when an Israeli airstrike in a densely-populated Beirut suburb killed operations chief Ibrahim Aqil and 14 other members.
An Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, on September. 22, 2024.
Baz Ratner/AP
The strike devastated part of the Dahiya area — known as a Hezbollah stronghold — and killed at least 45 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The dead included at least three children — aged 4, 6 and 10 — and seven women, the ministry said. Dozens more people were wounded.
The past week of escalation has left the region on the brink of an intensified and broadened conflict. Shoshani said Sunday that three aerial targets approached Israel from the east overnight, two of which came from Iraq and were intercepted. Iraqi militant groups aligned with Tehran have claimed several attacks towards Israel since Oct. 7.
The IDF on Sunday issued new security guidelines for the north of the country, prohibiting educational activities, limiting the size of gatherings and closing beaches.
The Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa said in a statement that it will move all patients from wards to a “protected underground hospital.”
The State Department, meanwhile, reissued its level 4 “do not travel” warning for Lebanon to include threats posed by “recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut.”
The Department’s prevailing guidance for American citizens in the country — which is to “depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available” — is unchanged from its last advisory issued in July.
“At this time, commercial flights are available, but at reduced capacity. If the security situation worsens, commercial options to depart may become unavailable,” the advisory said.
The United Nations’ special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, warned in a statement posted to X on Sunday: “With 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.”
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Zibqin on September 22, 2024. The Israeli army said that more than 100 projectiles were fired from Lebanon on September 22 and in response to the incoming fire from Hezbollah, it had launched new strikes on the group’s targets in southern Lebanon.
Kawnat Haju/AFP via Getty Images
ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Dana Savir, Shannon Kingston, Ghazi Balkiz and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.
Israel and Hezbollah, two longtime adversaries in the Middle East, have once again found themselves engaged in a series of border barrages as tensions escalate in the region. The recent clashes between the two sides have raised concerns about the potential for a wider conflict that could further destabilize an already volatile region.
The latest round of hostilities began when Hezbollah militants launched a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, prompting Israeli forces to respond with airstrikes on targets in southern Lebanon. The exchange of fire marked the most serious escalation between the two sides since the 2006 war, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and widespread destruction on both sides.
The roots of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah can be traced back to the founding of the militant group in the early 1980s. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, has long been a thorn in Israel’s side, carrying out attacks against Israeli forces and civilians both within Lebanon and across the border in Israel.
In recent years, tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have been fueled by a number of factors, including Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war and its ongoing efforts to build up its arsenal of rockets and missiles. Israel, for its part, has carried out numerous airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Syria in an effort to prevent the group from acquiring advanced weapons that could threaten Israeli cities.
The recent border barrages are just the latest chapter in a long history of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Both sides have shown a willingness to escalate tensions in order to assert their dominance in the region, leading to a dangerous cycle of violence that threatens to spiral out of control.
The international community has called for restraint on both sides and urged a return to dialogue to resolve the underlying issues driving the conflict. However, with both Israel and Hezbollah deeply entrenched in their positions, finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict remains a daunting challenge.
As tensions continue to rise in the region, the prospect of a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah looms large. The consequences of such a conflict would be devastating for both sides and could have far-reaching implications for the entire Middle East.
In order to prevent a further escalation of hostilities, it is imperative that both Israel and Hezbollah exercise restraint and refrain from actions that could trigger a wider conflict. Only through dialogue and diplomacy can the underlying issues driving the conflict be addressed and a lasting peace achieved in the region.
