One wounded in Hezbollah rocket barrage; IDF strikes hit Beirut for first time in days

A 37-year-old man was moderately wounded in a rocket impact in the northern Arab town of Sha’ab amid a rocket barrage fired by Hezbollah at northern Israel on Friday, hours after Israeli fighter jets carried out a series of overnight strikes targeting Hezbollah sites in Beirut.

The barrage of some 30 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Galilee region early Friday afternoon, triggering sirens in Sakhnin, Deir al-Asad, Karmiel, Ma’alot-Tarshiha and other nearby towns.

The military said that some of the rockets had been intercepted while several impacts had been identified.

In a statement, the Galilee Medical Center in Nahriya said the wounded man was suffering from shrapnel wounds, but was in a stable condition.

Hebrew media reported medics had also treated one person for acute anxiety at the scene.

Hours earlier, the IDF said that overnight strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs — a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh — had targeted weapon manufacturing plants, Hezbollah command centers and other Hezbollah infrastructure, the military said. The strikes were the first to hit the Lebanese capital in days.

Lebanese media outlets reported at least ten strikes in the area.

The early Friday airstrikes on Dahiyeh — after a four-day lull during which no airstrikes were reported in the suburb — destroyed dozens of buildings and caused fires in the area, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.

The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee had called ahead of time for residents of Dahiyeh to clear away from the buildings in 10 separate neighborhoods that would be targeted during the strikes.

Meanwhile, in Nabatieh, the IDF said additional command centers and “intelligence infrastructure” were destroyed.

All of the Hezbollah assets were located “in the heart of a civilian population,” the military said, accusing the terror group of using human shields.

Lebanese state media also reported an Israeli strike on the eastern city of Baalbek, following heavy air raids on the area in recent days after the IDF warned the city’s residents to evacuate ahead of pending attacks against Hezbollah.

Strikes in Baalbek on Thursday were said to have left six dead, while another six were reported killed in raids on Maqna.

The Lebanese health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians, said early Friday that an Israeli airstrike on the edge of Qamatiyeh, southeast of Beirut, killed three people and wounded five.

Fighter jets also hit several Hezbollah command rooms and other infrastructure near Tyre on Thursday. The IDF said some of the command rooms belonged to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.

The IDF added that it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strikes, including using precision munitions and issuing evacuation warnings in advance.

The airstrikes come as the 91st and 146th divisions continue to operate on the ground against the Iranian-backed group in southern Lebanon, where the IDF said troops killed gunmen and located weapons in the past day.

Meanwhile, in Israel, a barrage of some 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee. The IDF said that some of the rockets were intercepted while the rest struck open areas.

Overnight between Thursday and Friday, Israeli air defenses shot down five drones launched from Iraq, the military said.

One of the drones was shot down over Syria and two were shot down over Iraq and the remaining two were interpreted near the Dead Sea before they could cross into Israeli airspace. One of the drones intercepted over the Dead Sea fell in Jordan, but the Jordanian military said it did not cause any casualties.

The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for six total drone attacks, posting footage of the five successful launches on social media.

The sixth may have fallen short, and thus not been specifically publicized.

The IDF also said Friday that Israeli fighter jets had struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher used in a deadly barrage Thursday in the Haifa area, and that the operative who launched the attack was also killed in an airstrike.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday condemned what he said was the “expansion” of Israel’s attacks, and claimed that they signaled a refusal to engage in truce efforts.

“The Israeli enemy’s renewed expansion… and its renewed targeting of the southern suburbs of Beirut with destructive raids are all indicators that confirm the Israeli enemy’s rejection of all efforts being made to secure a ceasefire,” he said.

In addition, he said, “Israeli statements and diplomatic signals received by Lebanon confirm the Israeli stubbornness in rejecting the proposed solutions and insisting on the approach of killing and destruction.”

Despite Mikati’s issuance of blame, a senior Lebanese political source and a senior diplomat alleged that US envoy Amos Hochstein had asked Mikati to declare a unilateral ceasefire with Israel as part of an effort to help negotiations to reach a resolution for the more than year-long conflict.

But the request was seen as a non-starter, the sources said, as granting it would likely be equated with a surrender.

Mikati denied the claim in a statement to Reuters, and said the government’s stance was clear on seeking a ceasefire from both sides and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

On Friday, the UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon said the country’s cultural heritage was being endangered by Israeli strikes on Tyre and Baalbek, which are home to UNESCO-designated Roman ruins.

“Ancient Phoenician cities steeped in history are in deep peril of being left in ruins,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a social media post, adding that “Lebanon’s cultural heritage must not become yet another casualty in this devastating conflict.”

⭕مشاهد من إطلاق المقاومة الإسلامية في العراق لطيران مسير باتجاه هدف حيوي في وسط الأراضي المحتلة

بتاريخ ١-١١-٢٠٢٤ #الميادين #العراق #فلسطين_المحتلة pic.twitter.com/ckB9rZnsNc

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) November 1, 2024

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.

Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group.

The attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 39 civilians.

In addition, 61 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.

Two soldiers have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

The IDF estimates that more than 2,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has named 516 members who have been killed by Israel amid the fighting, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began a new offensive against Hezbollah in September.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.