Israel and Lebanon exchanged heavy gunfire on Sunday, with Israeli warplanes carrying out the most intense bombardment of the nearly year-long war in Lebanon’s south, while Hezbollah claimed rocket attacks on military targets in Israel’s north. The Israeli military said it struck about 290 targets on Saturday, including thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels, and said it would continue to attack the Iran-backed movement’s bases.
Israel closed schools and banned gatherings in several northern regions of the country and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday morning.
Sirens sounded throughout the night as scores of rockets and missiles were fired from Lebanon and Iraq, the army said, most of which were intercepted by Israeli air defence systems.
Israeli media reported that several buildings were damaged either directly or by missile debris, and ambulance services said they treated some people with minor injuries. No serious casualties were reported.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli Ramat David airbase with dozens of missiles in response to “repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon,” the group posted on its Telegram channel on Sunday.
The series of rocket attacks by Hezbollah on Ramat David is the biggest attack since the start of hostilities.
Iran-backed Iraqi militants also claimed an explosive drone attack on Israel early Sunday in a statement.
Increasing attacks
The increased attacks come less than 48 hours after an Israeli air strike targeting Hezbollah commanders in a suburb of the Lebanese capital killed at least 37 people, according to officials.
The powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group said 16 of its members, including senior leader Ibrahim Aqeel and another commander Ahmed Wahbi, were killed on Friday in its deadliest attack in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.
The Israeli military said it attacked an underground gathering of leaders of Aqil and Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces, almost completely collapsing its military chain of command.
Security sources said the attack leveled a multi-storey residential building in the crowded suburb and damaged a nursery next door. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, those killed included three children and seven women.
Friday’s attack escalated the conflict and marked another blow to Hezbollah after two days of attacks that ripped apart pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members.
The death toll has risen to 39 in the attacks, widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, while more than 3,000 people have been injured. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
On Sunday, Hezbollah posted on its Telegram channel that it had fired rockets at Israeli military-industry installations in a preliminary response to attacks with explosive devices.
Israel retaliated immediately, striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the army said in a statement.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he was concerned about escalating tensions but that the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah leader brought justice to the group, which Washington has designated as a terrorist organisation.
“While the risk of escalation is real, we believe there is a path forward to end hostilities and find a lasting solution that allows people on both sides of the border to feel safe,” Sullivan told reporters.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati cancelled his proposed visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Israel ready to retaliate
Hezbollah has said it will continue fighting Israel until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, which began on October 7 following a Hamas-led uprising in southern Israel.
U.S. officials say that is highly unlikely to happen. Israel wants Hezbollah to cease fire and withdraw its forces from the border area, adhering to a U.N. resolution it signed with Israel in 2006, regardless of the Gaza agreement.
Anticipating retaliation, the Israeli military banned gatherings and raised the alert level for residents of northern communities. The alert moved south to the coastal city of Haifa, indicating that Israel believes Hezbollah could strike deeper than it has since the war with Hamas began.
People in southern Lebanon on Saturday reported huge explosions in the sky and shaking of the ground at night when Israel launched the latest attack.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who said last week that Israel was starting a new phase of the war on its northern border, posted on Twitter: “The course of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
Thousands of people have fled their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.
The communiqué from a US summit hosted by President Joe Biden with the leaders of Japan, India and Australia stressed the need to prevent the Gaza war “from escalating and spreading across the region,” but did not specifically mention the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
With at least 70 people killed in Lebanon last week, the death toll in the country’s conflict since October has surpassed 740, the worst Israel-Hezbollah clash since the 2006 war.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)