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Hezbollah fires over 200 rockets into Israel

2024-07-04 14:34:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Lebanese group Hezbollah says it has fired more than 200 rockets at several military bases in Israel in response to an Israeli airstrike that left one of the group's top commanders dead.

The attack by the Iran-backed militant group on Thursday was among the biggest in the months-long conflict along the border between Lebanon and Israel.

The Israeli military said "numerous shells and suspicious aerial targets" were fired into its territory from Lebanon, most of which were intercepted. No casualties were reported.

About 160 "shells" were fired at the occupied Golan Heights and about 15 drones were launched inside Israeli territory, some of which were intercepted, the Israeli military said.

On Wednesday, Israel acknowledged that it had killed Mohammad Naamhe Nasser, who was the leader of one of Hezbollah's three regional divisions in southern Lebanon, a day earlier.

A few hours after his assassination, Hezbollah fired multiple Katyusha and Falaq rockets into northern Israel, as well as the occupied Golan Heights. On Thursday, the group fired more rockets and said it also launched kamikaze drones at several bases.

Nasser was very important to Hezbollah, having participated in past battles in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq from 2011 to 2016, as well as fighting in the group's last war against Israel in 2006.

Hezbollah launched rocket attacks in northern Israel a day after Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7, prompting limited fighting along the tense border.

But since then, attacks have slowly escalated, with Hezbollah deploying new weapons to carry out attacks and Israel striking deeper into Lebanon.

Hezbollah insists it will not stop attacks until a ceasefire agreement is reached in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials have threatened to carry out a larger military operation if Hezbollah does not stop the attacks.

More than 450 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon since October, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also including more than 80 civilians and non-combatants.

On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed since the war in Gaza began. Tens of thousands of people from both sides of the tense border have been displaced by the fighting.

In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a war of several months, which ended in a draw./REL