4 IDF troops hurt, including 1 seriously, as north peppered with rockets and drones
Projectiles cause damage in Kiryat Shmona and another community along Lebanon border; military strikes Hezbollah operatives and rocket launchers
Four IDF soldiers were wounded, one seriously, during a rocket attack Saturday on the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, as cross-border skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah continued to flare.
According to the military, the four were hurt by falling shrapnel following a rocket interception. The soldiers, all women, were taken to a hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces said the barrage from Lebanon included some 15 rockets, most of which were shot down by Iron Dome. Several rocket impacts caused damage, according to police.
Another eight rockets were fired at Kiryat Shmona a short while after the barrage that wounded the soldiers, the IDF said, adding that no injuries were caused in the second attack.
Both salvos were preceded by a barrage of of 10 projectiles was launched at the northern city, most of which were shot down by air defenses.
In other attacks during the day, the Israel Defense Forces said two suspected drones heading toward Israel were shot down by Israeli air defenses over southern Lebanon.
Rockets were also fired from Lebanon at the Zar’it, Margaliot, and Maayan Baruch areas. There were no injuries, though Hebrew media reported two houses in Margaliot sustained significant damage.
Meanwhile, the IDF said it struck a Hezbollah field commander in southern Lebanon’s Kfar Tebnit, in the Nabatiyeh District, after Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike on a car in the area.
No further details were immediately available.
The IDF also announced strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, which it said were used to attack the northern communities of Zar’it and Maayan Baruch earlier Saturday.
The IDF added that a building in Ayta ash-Shab, where a Hezbollah member was operating, was also struck.
Additionally, the military said it carried out a drone strike on two Hezbollah operatives preparing to launch rockets at Israel in southern Lebanon’s Deir Mimas.
A source close to Hezbollah who requested anonymity told AFP that one of the men was a Hezbollah member and the father of a fighter who had been killed, while the second man was a member of Hezbollah ally the Amal movement. The source insisted they were “civilians, not fighters,” which was echoed by a Lebanese security source who claimed they “were filling up water from a roadside spring” when they were struck.
Two Hezbollah operatives preparing to launch rockets at Israel were hit in a drone strike in southern Lebanon's Deir Mimas a short while ago, the IDF says. pic.twitter.com/KFmud9yVVy
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Hezbollah has traded almost daily fire with Israeli forces in support of Hamas since the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 onslaught against Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip, stoking fears of a full-blown conflict in the north as well. Some of Saturday’s attacks from Lebanon followed an Israeli strike in Gaza targeting the head of Hamas’s military wing and another top commander, which Hezbollah has yet to comment on.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said his group would accept Hamas’s decision on Gaza hostage negotiations and would stop attacks on Israel if a ceasefire were reached. A day earlier, Nasrallah met with a Hamas delegation before talks resumed in Qatar on Wednesday toward a truce-for-hostage deal in the Gaza war, now in its 10th month.
Around 60,000 residents of towns and villages along Israel’s northern border have been forced from their homes since October due to the frequent rocket and anti-tank missile attacks by Hezbollah and other terrorists in southern Lebanon.
The attacks have persisted despite constant Israeli warnings that it could launch a war to push the Hezbollah threat away from the border and return normalcy to the region, with most evacuees facing the prospect of remaining homeless for the foreseeable future.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 17 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 366 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 66 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Agencies contributed to this report.
