Hezbollah moves missiles as region braces for IDF response to deadly Golan attack
Two members of terror group killed in Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon; ministers reportedly not shown retaliation options for fear they would leak them
Hezbollah has begun moving around its precision-guided missiles, as the region braced for a fierce Israeli response to a rocket attack by the terror group over the weekend that killed 12 children.
An official with a Lebanese group told The Associated Press on Monday that Hezbollah’s stance has not changed, and that the Iran-backed organization does not want a full-blown war with Israel, but that if war breaks out it will fight without limits.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive activities, said Hezbollah since Sunday has started moving some of its “smart precision-guided missiles” to use if needed.
Earlier Monday, two Hezbollah operatives were killed in an IDF drone strike in southern Lebanon. Lebanese rescue services said two people were killed and three were wounded, including a child, in the attack between the southern Lebanon towns of Mays al-Jabal and Shaqra.
According to Lebanese media, the strike targeted a car and a motorcycle.
The IDF later confirmed carrying out the strike, publishing footage of the attack.
במהלך היום, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר בשיתוף אוגדה 210, תקפו תשתית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בכפר חמאם, ממנה בוצעו שיגורים למרחב הר דב>> pic.twitter.com/mloCWp4R1a
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 29, 2024
Following the attack, Hezbollah announced the deaths of two members killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes. They were named as Abbas Hijazi, from Majdel Selm, and Abbas Salami, from Khirbet Selm.
Their deaths brought the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to at least 383.
They were the first operatives killed in an IDF strike since Saturday, when four members of the terror group’s elite Radwan force were killed. After that, Hezbollah carried out the rocket attack on the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams that killed 12 children and teens.
Hezbollah has denied its involvement in the attack, but Israel and the United States have blamed on the Lebanese terror group. The IDF has also provided evidence tying Hezbollah to the attack.
Israel has vowed retaliation against Hezbollah, and Israeli jets hit targets in southern Lebanon early Sunday and reportedly shelled sites there just after midnight Monday.
On Sunday night, Israeli ministers authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief to decide on the “manner and timing” of the response.
According to reports in Hebrew-language media on Monday, the potential responses were not shown to ministers, fearing they would be leaked.
Both sides have appeared to be avoiding an escalation that could lead to all-out war that potentially drags in other powers including the United States and Iran, but Saturday’s attack threatened to tip the standoff into a more dangerous phase.
Meanwhile, a barrage of 20 rockets was fired Monday from Lebanon at the Gomeh Junction area, just south of Kiryat Shmona, the IDF said.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, claiming to have targeted an Israeli military position in response to the deadly strike near Shaqra.
There were no injuries.
A short while after the attack, a Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon’s Houla, used to carry out the rocket barrage, was struck by fighter jets, the IDF said.
Additionally, the IDF said fighter jets struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Kfarhamam, used in a rocket attack on the Mount Dov area.
Also on Monday, a drone launched from Lebanon was shot down by the Israeli Navy over Israel’s territorial waters in northern Israel, the military said. The drone was intercepted by one of the Navy’s Sa’ar 6-class corvettes.
Over the weekend, another Hezbollah drone, thought to be heading toward Israeli offshore gas infrastructure, was shot down by the Navy.
מוקדם יותר היום ספינת טילים של זרוע הים מסוג ״סער 6״ של שייטת 3 בשיתוף חיל האוויר, יירטה כלי טיס בלתי מאויש שעשה את דרכו משטח לבנון במרחב המים הכלכליים של ישראל pic.twitter.com/KHQlrzje2C
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 29, 2024
Earlier on Monday, the IDF said a drone that crossed into the Western Galilee from Lebanon was intercepted by air defenses.
The interception triggered predawn rocket sirens in the towns of Yaara and Adamit due to fears of falling shrapnel, according to the IDF.
Late Sunday, Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrikes near the southern Lebanon towns of Houla and Markaba.
And on Sunday morning, the IDF said fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon the previous night, following the Majdal Shams attack.
The targets included weapon depots and other infrastructure in Shabriha and Burj el-Shemali near Tyre; the Beqaa Valley; and southern Lebanon’s Kafr Kila, Rab al-Thalathine, Khiam and Tayr Harfa, according to the military.
מטוסי קרב תקפו במהלך הלילה שורת מטרות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ברחבי לבנון.
בין המטרות שהותקפו בעומק ובדרום לבנון, מצבורי אמל"ח ותשתיות טרור במרחבים שבריחה, בורג' א-שמאלי, בקאע, כפר כילא, רב א-תלתין, אל-חיאם וטיר חרפא pic.twitter.com/nUpOGqTWtK
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 28, 2024
None of those strikes appeared to be Israel’s response to the deadly Hezbollah rocket attack on Majdal Shams, which is expected to be more significant.
Hezbollah terrorists have been firing rockets into northern Israel since October 8, drawing Israeli reprisal attacks and threatening to widen the conflict between Israel and Hamas beyond Gaza’s borders.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 24 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 383 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some in Syria. In Lebanon, another 68 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
The Times of Israel Community.