Hezbollah fires barrage of rockets at Kiryat Shmona, causing blazes, property damage

Hezbollah fired a barrage of 35 rockets from Lebanon at the northern city of Kiryat Shmona sparking fires in the surrounding areas Friday, while the military responded with a wave of strikes on the terror group’s positions.

The military said around 15 of the projectiles were downed by the Iron Dome, while others struck the city, causing damage to property. Footage from inside the city showed damage to buildings and burned out vehicles.

A large crater could be seen in the road where one of the missiles impacted the ground.

Rockets falling outside of the city sparked large fires in the hills along Route 90. The Israel Fire and Rescue Services said 10 firefighting teams were at the scene.

The Israel Defense Forces said it shelled the sources of the fire with artillery. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hezbollah terrorists fired “a salvo of Katyusha rockets” at Israel’s north “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on… civilians, most recently in Tayr Harfa,” the group said in a statement, referring to the death of a technician and rescue worker affilated with an allied movement earlier in the day.

In a separate statement, the terror group also claimed a rocket salvo on an army base in northern Israel, saying its operatives launched a second attack with “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at troops who were assessing the damage at the base.

The IDF said it carried out a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in six different areas in southern Lebanon, hitting five buildings used by the terror group and a military post used to launch rockets at northern Israel, in the towns of Odaisseh, Khiam, Rab al-Thalathine, Deir Siriane, Ayta ash-Shab, and Mhaibib.

לפני זמן קצר צה"ל השלים גל תקיפות של מטרות טרור במרחבים אל עדייסא, אל-חיאם, רב א-תלתין, דיר סירין, עייתא א-שעב ומחיבב שבדרום לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/6Qd8QERpD1

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 10, 2024

Earlier in the day, three anti-tank missiles were fired at Kibbutz Misgav in the Upper Galilee next to the Lebanon border, according to Hebrew media reports.

There were no reports of casualties in the incident, though one of the missiles hit a building, causing some damage.

Additionally, two armed Hezbollah operatives were struck by the Israeli Air Force in southern Lebanon’s Yaroun, the military said.

The IDF said the pair were spotted by troops of the 869th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit near a building known to be used by the terror group. A short while later, the building was struck by fighter jets.

Fighter jets hit additional Hezbollah sites in Kafr Kila and Blida, the IDF added.

מטוסי קרב תקפו שני מחבלי חיזבאללה נעים בסמוך למבנה צבאי במרחב יארון, בעודם נושאים אמצעי לחימה.

מוקדם יותר היום מטוסי קרב תקפו תשתית טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב כפר כילא ומבנה צבאי של הארגון במרחב בליידא, בו שהו מחבלים ותשתית טרור במרחב טיר חרפא. pic.twitter.com/hAifhebUeY

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) May 10, 2024

Amid the IDF strikes, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said a first responder from a rescue group affiliated with the Shiite Amal movement, and a telecoms technician were killed “as a result of the Israeli aggression on Tayr Harfa.”

The rescuer belonged to the Risala Scout Association, while the technician worked for Power Tec, which undertakes maintenance work for private mobile service provider Touch.

The technician and colleagues from Ogero telecom provider were carrying out “maintenance on the transmission poles,” the NNA said, adding they had sought permission from the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.

The Risala Scout Association, which operates in south Lebanon, said the rescuer was killed when his team went to a location that had come under Israeli bombardment.

“The second strike came quickly, and one of the young men was martyred,” a source from the association told AFP.

A source within Touch said the strike hit a team that had been doing maintenance work in Tayr Harfa.

“We lost communications with them because the station was hit,” the source told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

“There were people from our team and from another company that does maintenance work for us, and there were also paramedics,” the source added.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike.

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.

So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in nine civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 14 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 296 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 60 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 60 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.

Israel has threatened to go to war to force Hezbollah away from the border if it does not retreat and continues to threaten northern communities, where some 70,000 people have been evacuated to avoid the fighting.