Hezbollah fires rockets into central Israel

2024-10-22 08:55:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into central Israel on October 22, prompting the sounding of air raid warning sirens in most populated parts of Israel.

However, the attacks by Hezbollah – the militant group and political party that controls most of southern Lebanon – appear to have caused no damage or casualties.

The Israeli military said five projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward Israel, adding that most of them were intercepted by Israel's air defense systems, while one rocket landed in an uninhabited area.

Israel said that at the same time, about 15 shells were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel.

Hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States. Meanwhile, the European Union has blacklisted only the military wing of the group, but not the political party. The Hezbollah party has seats in the Lebanese Parliament.

On October 22, Hezbollah said it fired missiles at two key bases near Tel Aviv and a naval base west of Haifa.

The missile strikes come as Israel has stepped up its attacks in Lebanon, targeting financial institutions run by Hezbollah, and as the US tries to restart ceasefire talks in Gaza after the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas. declared a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eradicate Hamas and return dozens of hostages held by the group. Hamas has said the hostages will be released when a long-term ceasefire is reached and Israel withdraws completely from Gaza and Palestinian prisoners are released.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people and kidnapped nearly 250 others during the October 7 attack. Since then, as a result of the Israeli offensive, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza.

Since the war in Gaza began, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire on the border. But, at the beginning of October, the situation escalated and Israel announced the launch of a ground operation in the south of Lebanon against Hezbollah./REL