Hezbollah's largest attack on northern Israel since the start of the Gaza war
Hezbollah shelled northern Israel with about 150 rockets, the largest Hezbollah attack on Israel since the start of the war with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza nearly nine months ago.
Hezbollah has vowed to further escalate its operations against Israel.
The escalation came a day after the Israeli military assassinated a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said most of the rockets were intercepted while some landed in the country's northern regions, causing fires.
He added that about 70 rockets were aimed at the Meron area.
The IDF immediately responded by bombing a number of Hezbollah positions, including a rocket launcher, in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah said its rockets targeted several Israeli sites, including the Northern Corps headquarters at the Ein Zeitim base and a military industries factory in Sa'Sa'a.
It said in an official statement that its attack was in response to the assassination of four of its members, including a military commander, on Tuesday evening.
On Tuesday night, the Israeli military targeted a house in the Juwaya area of Tyre district, killing Hezbollah members. It confirmed on Wednesday that it had killed Hezbollah members in a strike on what it said was Hezbollah's "command and control center" in southern Lebanon.
According to Hezbollah's statement, the commander who was killed was 55-year-old Talib Sami Abdullah, better known as Abu Talib.
Israeli media reports said Abu Taleb was the highest-ranking Hezbollah military commander killed by Israel since the beginning of the current war.
Hezbollah's al-Manar TV quoted Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah's executive council, as saying that the group would "increase the intensity, intensity, quantity and quality of its operations" against Israel.
BBC
