Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at Israel as IDF pounds Lebanon, Syria targets
No injuries reported in barrages on Israel; Lebanon reports death toll in Friday’s strikes in Tyre rises to seven, including two children
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Hezbollah fired over 40 rockets at Israel on Saturday, according to the Israel Defense Forces, as the military and Lebanese terror group continued to trade cross-border strikes.
In the afternoon, eight rockets were fired at the center of the Galilee with one impacting the area of Even Menachem, while the rest of the rockets were either intercepted or hit open areas. No injuries were reported as a result of that barrage.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and nearby towns on Saturday afternoon due to fears of a drone attack, but the military later said they were false alarms.
A barrage earlier in the afternoon saw 25 rockets fired at the Galilee and Haifa Bay area, with the IDF saying some were intercepted while the rest landed in open areas. Five rockets were fired at the area on Saturday morning with the same result.
Also in the afternoon, five rockets were launched at the Western Galilee, all of which were either intercepted or fell in open areas.
The IDF also intercepted a drone launched from Iraq overnight. The drone, which the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance group took responsibility for, was shot down before crossing into Israeli airspace, but it still activated sirens in several towns in the southern Golan Heights.
Another drone launched from Lebanon was also intercepted overnight in the Western Galilee, causing sirens to go off there as well.
IAF pounds Lebanon, Syria
Overnight Saturday, Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah command rooms, weapons manufacturing sites, and other infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the IDF said, adding that the sites were located “in the heart of a civilian population.”
The military, which issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the area before the strikes, accused Hezbollah of using the local population as human shields.
במהלך הלילה, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר בהכוונת אגף המודיעין תקפו מפקדות, אתר ייצור אמצעי לחימה ותשתיות נוספות בשימוש ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הדאחייה בביירות >> pic.twitter.com/a9bP90k2rL
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 9, 2024
In Syria, several soldiers were wounded overnight in what appeared to be an Israeli airstrike in the Aleppo and Idlib area, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported. There was no comment from the IDF on the strike.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Israeli air strikes in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Friday rose to seven people including two young girls, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
The ministry also said that 46 people were injured in the attack, adding that rescuers were still searching for missing people under the rubble and that body parts had been found and will be “identified with DNA testing.”
The IDF said it struck several Hezbollah command rooms where operatives had gathered.
Alpinists finish week-long operation
The IDF’s elite reserve Alpinist Unit, under the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade, concluded a week-long operation this week on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov and on the outskirts of the town of Shebaa, the IDF said.
The reservists located Hezbollah tunnels, rocket launchers and weapon depots amid the operation in the area, according to the IDF.
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 due to increasing rocket and missile fire by the terror group.
The attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 41 civilians. In addition, 62 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 some 3,000 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.
AFP contributed to this report.
