100 rockets target northern Israel as IDF strikes in Lebanon said to kill 5 Syrians

Several salvos fired at Kiryat Shmona and Galilee, causing damage but no injuries; military says it struck Hezbollah operatives and sites linked to terror group

Footage shows Israel's Iron Dome system intercepting Hezbollah rockets sent from Lebanon near Metula, July 16, 2024. (STRINGER/AFPTV/AFP)

Around 100 rockets targeted several different areas of northern Israel in four separate waves on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, as the Israel Defense Forces responded with strikes on Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, which media reports claimed killed at least five people.

The first salvo set off waves of sirens in the border city of Kiryat Shmona and a number of surrounding areas. The IDF later said that at least 40 rockets had been fired toward the city in the attacks.

Several of the rockets were shot down by the Iron Dome, but some struck the northern city, causing damage to buildings, according to police. There were no reports of injuries.

Several hours later, a separate wave of 10 rockets fired from Lebanon set off sirens in the Western Galilee, which the IDF said all landed in open areas, causing no injuries.

In addition, some 30 rockets were fired toward the Mount Meron area in the Upper Galilee, the IDF said.

Several were intercepted by the Iron Dome, while others struck open areas. Some of the rocket impacts sparked fires. There were no reported injuries.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it came as a response to the killing of three Syrian children earlier.

In the final overnight barrage, Hezbollah fired some 15 projectiles at the Nahariya area in the Western Galilee.

The rockets were intercepted or impacted in open areas, the IDF said, and there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

On Tuesday evening, the IDF said that it had struck the launcher used in the attack on Kiryat Shmona.

The launcher, in the area of Jabal Blat, was targeted by a drone, the military said.

Separately, the IDF said that it targeted a Hezbollah cell in the area of Yarine in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese official media said that five people were killed in the Israeli strikes on south Lebanon, including three children.

Smoke billows following an Israeli strike near the village of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon on July 16, 2024. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)

“Three Syrian children” were killed “in an enemy raid that targeted farmland in the village of Umm Tout,” the National News Agency (NNA) said. Umm Tout is nearby the Yarine area.

NNA also said that an “enemy” drone strike had targeted a motorcycle on the Kfar Tebnit road elsewhere in south Lebanon, killing two Syrians. A Lebanese security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP that the two Syrians were “civilians” who worked nearby and had been swimming in the area.

The NNA said “eyewitnesses reported that the motorbike was carrying two people and that when a number of citizens tried to approach the bike… it was subjected to a second strike.”

Late Tuesday evening, the IDF said that it had also struck buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Kafr Kila and Ayta ash-Shab. Additional Hezbollah infrastructure was struck in Aitaroun and Ayta ash-Shab, the IDF adds.

The IDF said it also struck Hezbollah targets overnight, with fighters jet hitting “terror infrastructure” in Yarine, Ayta ash-Shab, and Aalma ash-Shab, while artillery “removed a threat” in another village.

Earlier in the day, the IDF said that two Hezbollah operatives were targeted in a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Mansouri.

The IDF said the pair were struck after they were identified fleeing from a site used to launch rockets at Kiryat Shmona in an earlier attack.

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have fired missiles, drones and rockets at Israeli communities and IDF posts in northern Israel on a near-daily basis. So far, the cross-border attacks 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 367 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, as well as at least 104 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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