On Tuesday morning, an Israeli air raid targeted a multi-story building in the town of Mayfadoun in the Nabatieh governorate, killing an estimated six individuals as the numbers remain unclear.
Hezbollah mourned fighters Hassan Mansour Mansour, Ali Mustafa Chamseddine, Hussein Ali Yassin, Adham Khanjar Hussein Nasser, Mohammed Hussein Taleb, and Amin Hassan Badreddine (nephew of Mustafa Badreddine, who was indicted alongside three other people for charges related to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon).
Around the same time, Israeli forces also conducted air raids over the towns of al-Khiyam, where one person was reportedly injured, and Wazzani, leading to several injuries, including the injury of a child.
Later that day, Israeli warplanes flew at an extremely low altitude over Beirut and its surrounding governates, breaking the sound barrier multiple times and sparking fear in the hearts of Lebanon’s population.
The mock raids took place a few minutes before the speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. The raids were seen as an attempt to threaten Nasrallah from escalating matters further, amid Israeli authorities’ calls to target Beirut and to cause destruction in the city the same way that was done in Gaza.
Nasrallah’s Speech
In his speech, Nasrallah confirmed that both Iran and Hezbollah will respond to the Israeli strikes, after the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and of Fouad Shukr in Haret Hreik in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The speech took place as part of the memorial service for Shukr, one of the most senior military commanders in the group.
Hezbollah’s Secretary General explained that the response will not be based on emotions, but that the party will act with deliberate calm, while adding that Iran and Hezbollah could respond either individually or collectively.
Hezbollah Strike
Also on Tuesday, Hezbollah targeted the Shraga military base in the city of Acre, killing one Israeli and injuring 19 others, including six soldiers. The injuries did not only occur in the city of Acre according to Nasrallah, who claimed that some injuries took place in Nahariya due to an Israeli interceptor missile that missed its target.
The attack was reportedly not a direct response to the assassination of Shukr, but rather a response to the assassination of the Radwan Force Leader, Ali Jawad, in the town of Ebba on Monday.