Tel Aviv [Israel], June 14: The heavy rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel continued on Thursday, both sides said, with the projectiles triggering air raid sirens in northern Israel.
Hezbollah said it launched rocket and drone attacks on several Israeli army bases and positions, two days after an Israeli strike killed one of its senior commanders, Taleb Abdallah.
A Hezbollah source told dpa that the dozens of rockets were simultaneously were fired at several military barracks and described the attack as a "big operation." During the funeral ceremony of Taleb on Wednesday senior Hezbollah official Hashem Saffieddine said, "Our answer after the martyrdom of Abdallah is that we will increase the intensity, strength, quantity, and quality of our operations, and let him wait for us in the field." Israel in retaliation carried out dozens of airstrikes and shelled areas in the western and central sectors of southern Lebanon on Thursday.
"Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel over the past few hours, approximately 40 projectiles were launched toward the Galilee and Golan Heights area," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on its Telegram channel. It said numerous launches were successfully intercepted but "a number of hits" ignited fires in the area.
On Wednesday, the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militia fired around 200 missiles at Israel, prompting concern about a dangerous escalation of the conflict.
Israeli media reported on Thursday that a house in Kibbutz Yiron in the border region was directly hit. Rocket fragments fell in the town of Safed in northern Israel and in Katzrin on the occupied Golan Heights, where paramedics said two people were injured by rocket fragments.
Several people were injured by falling while running into shelters, and there were also several shock injuries.
Several fires broke out along the border in Israeli territory, according to Israeli media reports. The region is currently experiencing particularly hot and dry weather, making it easy for fires to spread.
The IDF has fired incendiary projectiles with what looks like a medieval-type catapult or trebuchet device across the border into Lebanon, Israeli media reported. The aim was apparently to burn dense undergrowth in the border area so that enemy fighters could not hide there, the public broadcaster Kan reported on Thursday.
A video circulating on social media showed Israeli soldiers next to the unusual unit hurling a fireball over a high wall.
Kan, quoting the IDF, said the use of the weapon was only a "local initiative" and it is not in widespread use by the army.
Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah have been fighting each other since the beginning of the war in Gaza and the fighting has become increasingly fierce. On both sides of the border, the attacks repeatedly lead to fires which spread quickly in the hot, dry weather there.
Source: Qatar Tribune
