Hezbollah fired more than 250 rockets into Israel on Wednesday after Israel killed Sami Taleb Abdullah, the most senior Hezbollah commander to be eliminated since October 7.
This was the largest one-day rocket attack since the war began and included rocket attacks as far south as Tiberias for the first time in this conflict.
The IDF of the said most rockets fell in open areas, some others were intercepted, and fell in other locations.Al Mayadeen reported that a number of Israeli military sites, including the Mount Meron air traffic control base, were targeted during the attacks.
The Israeli strike in the south Lebanon village of Jouaiya late on Tuesday killed three Hezbollah fighters alongside Abdallah, Hezbollah’s commander for the central region of the southern border strip, security sources in Lebanon said.
North 'under massive attack' from Hezbollah
The Israeli military confirmed that it had killed all four in a strike on a command and control center.Hezbollah said it carried out at least 17 operations against Israel on Wednesday, including eight in response to what it called the “assassination."In one, Hezbollah fighters fired guided missiles at an Israeli military factory. In another, the group said it had attacked Israeli military headquarters in Ein Zeitim and Amiad, and an Israeli military air surveillance station in Meron.In another attack, more than 100 rockets were launched at once, one of the group’s biggest barrages since October 7.Speaking at a funeral procession for Abdallah in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said the group would increase the intensity, force and quantity of its operations against Israel in retaliation for his killing.
Israeli jets hit a number of launch sites in southern Lebanon on Wednesday after projectiles were fired towards northern Israel, the military said.
The Israeli military earlier said Hezbollah had also fired around 50 missiles into the Golan Heights.
In a second announcement, Israel said it identified approximately 90 projectiles fired from Lebanon. The Israeli military said its fighter jets hit Hezbollah launch sites in two areas in southern Lebanon, while artillery shelled a third location.
It said there had been no casualties on the Israeli side but firefighters were battling blazes ignited by the Hezbollah strikes in various areas.Abdallah was senior to Wissam Tawil, a high-level Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli strike in January, said the sources in Lebanon, who spoke on condition of anonymity.A Reuters tally put the number of civilians killed in Israel’s northern neighbor at around 80. Attacks from Lebanon have killed 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, Israel says.The IDF says it has killed more than 320 Hezbollah fighters, including at least 100 targeted after field operatives gathered “precise high-quality intelligence” on them.