Israel launches a pre-emptive attack on Hezbollah, which fires hundreds of rockets in return

Israel’s military said it sent 100 warplanes over Lebanon and fired thousands of rocket launchers at targets in northern and central Israel. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said Hezbollah then fired hundreds of missiles and rockets into Israel.

He said the damage to Israel from those projectiles appeared to be very limited and that Israel’s operation in Lebanon was essentially over for now, although both sides remain on high alert with occasional firing. Hezbollah also said its operation on Sunday was over.

Israel’s main airport outside Tel Aviv was closed for several hours and arriving flights were diverted to neighboring states. Shoshani said this was due to concerns that the rockets were aimed at the center of the country, but Israel’s actions ended that risk for now.

Although Sunday’s attacks stayed within the so-called rules of engagement, they raise concerns that the near-daily exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the past 10 months could escalate into a wider war at any moment.

Hezbollah said its attack on Israel was the beginning of revenge for the July 30 killing of its commander in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The group said it fired more than 320 rockets, followed by drones, to target 11 barracks and military sites in northern Israel.

Israel has not confirmed the targets, but sirens sounded repeatedly in the north on Sunday morning. The military limits gatherings to 300 people indoors and 30 people outdoors. The workplaces are said to be able to function normally if they are inside and have bomb shelters that can be reached quickly.

A Lebanese group allied with Hezbollah said one of its fighters was killed in Sunday’s airstrikes. Two other people were killed and several others were injured, according to the state-run National News Agency.

Shoshani said Israel saw Hezbollah preparing to fire missiles and rockets and acted preemptively. Israel has warned Lebanese civilians in areas where Hezbollah operates to move away from danger, he said. Israeli action was limited to southern Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a security cabinet meeting and said he was “determined to do everything to defend our country, return northerners safely to their homes and continue to support a simple rule : whoever harms us – we will harm. it hurts them.”

The government delegation to talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Gaza was due to leave for Cairo on Sunday as planned, suggesting that those negotiations would resume. Hamas said on Saturday it was sending a team to meet with mediators.

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said that “We continue to monitor the situation closely and have been very clear that the US is willing to support Israel’s defense.” He asked questions about it to the Israelites.

Shoshani noted that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone over the weekend and that a top US commander in the region recently visited twice. He declined to say whether the US had received advance warning of Sunday’s attack, adding: “This was an Israeli operation.”

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire along the border since October, when the Lebanese organization entered the fray in support of the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza. Since then, Israeli attacks have killed at least 500 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters. In Israel, approximately 30 soldiers and 18 civilians were killed by Hezbollah attacks.

Preventing further escalation of clashes has been at the heart of international diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions in the Middle East.

On July 30, an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah’s military chief, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut. Hours later, Iran blamed the Jewish state for the killing of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran has vowed to retaliate.

The US tried to mediate between Lebanon and Israel to reach a compromise on the border disputes. Israel wants Hezbollah to move its fighters away from the border to allow its citizens to return to the north. Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been evacuated from the border area because of the fighting.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organization by the US, says it will continue hostilities with Israel until the country reaches a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza.

The war in the Palestinian enclave began on October 7 after Hamas militants, also backed by Iran, invaded Israel and killed 1,200 people and kidnapped others. Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 40,000 people, according to health officials in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas.