Hezbollah has increased the volume and intensity of its operations over the past two days, after Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said that Israel had destroyed most of the armed group’s capabilities, leaving them with only a third of their medium and short-range missiles and rockets. Hezbollah has thus far conducted 38 military operations on Sunday, October 13, and another 33 on Monday, October 14.
The biggest attack that Hezbollah has thus far launched on Israel took place on Sunday evening, when the group launched a drone attack on an Israeli military training base south of Haifa on Sunday evening, killing four and injuring 67 according to Israeli media. This drone strike marks the bloodiest incident on Israeli soil since the onset of hostilities over a year ago.
Hezbollah reported that it sent “a squadron of attack drones” to the Golani Brigade base in Binyamina, south of Haifa, as a “response to Zionist attacks,” referencing Israeli airstrikes in the central Beirut neighborhoods of Basta and Nweiri that killed 22 people on Thursday, October 10.
Israeli media reported that three drones entered Israeli airspace, with one striking the training camp in Binyamina, located south of Haifa and north of Tel Aviv. Hezbollah stated that the drones targeting the base “exploded in the rooms where dozens of Israeli officers and soldiers were present.”
According to Al Mayadeen, 50 ambulances rushed to the scene to transport the casualties, and helicopters were also dispatched to assist.
The Israeli army confirmed the attack resulted in four fatalities, while Israel’s ambulance service stated that 67 individuals were treated for injuries at nearby hospitals, including seven in critical condition, according to The New Arab.
The targeted Golani Unit, one of the Israeli army’s elite divisions, has been deployed in southern Lebanon recently after also participating in the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Reports suggest that the Israeli military has banned further reporting on the attack on its base due to security concerns, a measure it has taken in the past.
Hezbollah vows continued offensive actions
Hezbollah issued a statement late Sunday after the strike on the Golani Brigade base in Binyamina, south of Haifa, warning of further attacks if Israel’s operations in Lebanon continued.
The group stated, “What we witnessed today in southern Haifa is nothing compared to what awaits the enemy if it chooses to persist in its aggression against our people.”
Hezbollah claimed it launched dozens of missiles toward Nahariya and Acre, north of Haifa, “to keep Israeli defense systems occupied.” Simultaneously, it deployed “squadrons of various drones, some of which were used for the first time,” targeting different areas in Acre and Haifa.
After claiming responsibility for the Binyamina attack, Hezbollah announced that it had also launched missiles at an army “maintenance and rehabilitation base” located south of Haifa.
Hezbollah has previously stated, “The Israeli enemy forces are using the houses of settlers in some settlements in northern occupied Palestine as assembly points,” according to Al Mayadeen.
“The Israeli enemy’s bases, used as operations rooms for the aggression against Lebanon, are located within densely populated cities such as Haifa and Tabarayya, among others,” the Hezbollah warning added.
“All the aforementioned houses and military bases are legitimate military targets for the Rocket and Air Forces of the Islamic Resistance. Therefore, we warn settlers against gathering near these military sites in order to preserve their lives until further notice.”
The warnings bare resemblance to those issued by Israel to citizens of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Israel propagated claims that Hezbollah was hiding weapon depots and rocket launchers within citizens’ houses or in densely populated residential areas across Beirut’s southern suburbs.
This escalation occurs amidst rising tensions as Israel relentlessly targets Gaza and various locations in Lebanon, along with an anticipated Israeli response to Iran’s missile attack nearly two weeks ago.
Israel Strikes Deep into Lebanon, Hezbollah Launches Rockets at Tel Aviv
On Tuesday, October 15, Hezbollah issued a statement in which it claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that targeted the suburbs of Tel Aviv on Monday evening.
The statement said that they launched a rocket barrage of three surface to surface missiles, all of which were intercepted by Israel. Netanyahu has said that Israel will continue to strike Hezbollah targets across all of Lebanon, hitting at another potential hit on Beirut.
Israel has not struck Beirut’s southern suburbs for the fourth night in a row, after shelling it continuously since launching attacks on the suburbs on September 23.
Earlier that day, Israel struck the northern Lebanese village of Aitou, in the Zgharta district, the first attack of its kind, killing 24 and injuring a few others. UNHCR Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told a Geneva news briefing that “12 women and two children” were among those killed on Monday evening.
The attack was another Israeli assassination attempt against a Hezbollah official who was residing in a residential building with his family, alongside other displaced Lebanese families from southern Lebanon.
Attacks of this kind have become more popular within recent weeks, where Israel has conducted airstrikes on several Lebanese areas in order to assassinate Hezbollah officials, such as those conducted in Noueiri and Basta, which killed 22 people, injured another 120, and leveled a residential building.
The Aitou attack, which took place in a predominantly Christian Maronite village, incited fears among the population of the possibility of a civil war breaking out. Zgharta MP Michel Moawad warned residents within the district against welcoming Hezbollah members to the area in a televised interview with Al Jadeed.
In contrast, presidential candidate Sleiman Frangieh said that the Zgharta district will still remain a safe zone welcoming displaced citizens of the south, dismantling some fears that a strike in a primarily Maronite village would incite sectarian strife. Frangieh has received Hezbollah’s backing in his run for becoming president.
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem is set to speak for the third time since Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in September at 3 PM on Tuesday, October 15.