Hezbollah launches drones at north after IDF kills Hamas commander in Lebanon
Lebanese terror group says attack targeted base used by education corps, also fires rockets; Halevi meets Northern Command officers as Israel braces for response to Shukr killing
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Hezbollah terror group on Saturday launched several explosive-laden drones at northern Israel, saying the attack was in response to an Israeli strike that killed a Hamas commander in Lebanon.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Michve Alon military base near Maghar, which the Lebanese terror group claimed was used by the Israel Defense Forces as a staging ground and as a munitions depot.
Michve Alon, located some 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the Lebanon border, is a training base of the IDF’s Education and Youth Corps.
A Hezbollah statement said it launched drone “squadrons” at Israel following the “Zionist strike” Friday in the Lebanese southern port city of Sidon that killed Samer al-Hajj, who commanded Hamas’s military forces in the nearby Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.
The IDF later confirmed that several explosive-laden drones were launched in the Hezbollah attack, which set off air raid sirens in numerous northern communities.
According to the IDF, one of the drones was intercepted by air defenses, while the others impacted areas in northern Israel, causing damage.
Footage posted to social media shows the apparent interception of a Hezbollah drone over northern Israel this evening. pic.twitter.com/vWCuNsxWl4
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) August 10, 2024
There were no injuries in the attack.
However, a treatment and rehabilitation center for people with disabilities was hit and severely damaged.
Beni Ben Muvchar, head of the Mevo’ot HaHermon Regional Council, told Ynet that a likely Iron Dome interceptor had landed in the center’s indoor pool and wreaked havoc, without causing casualties.
נזק כבד נגרם מפגיעת כטב"מ או מיירט במתקפה הערב למרכז השיקומי במבואות חרמון. זה המרכז הטיפולי היחיד שלנו, תושבי הגליל המזרחי. בנייתו ארכה שנים. pic.twitter.com/vK0Mu2e0fC
— Rubi Hammerschlag | רובי המרשלג (@rubih67) August 10, 2024
He said he had been in the center with his son minutes before the sirens sounded and the blast was heard.
“I survived, but this whole place has gone, windows were smashed and more,” he said. “This was my life’s project, which I worked for years to establish and bring these important services to the area.”
The IDF also said it carried out a series of airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, targeting Hezbollah sites and operatives.
According to the IDF, the targets included a Hezbollah operative spotted entering a building in Tayr Harfa; rocket launchers in Houla and Qalaat Debba; a drone primed for launch and a member of Hezbollah’s aerial forces in an undisclosed area of southern Lebanon; and buildings used by Hezbollah and weapons depots in Hanine, Ayta ash-Shab, Khiam, and Blida.
כוחות צה״ל מאוגדה 146 זיהו מחבל חיזבאללה נכנס למבנה במרחב טיר חרפא, והכווינו תוך זמן קצר מטוסי קרב שתקפו את המבנה. כוחות חטיבה 769 זיהו ותקפו משגרי רקטות במרחבים חולא וקלעת דבא, שבדרום לבנון >> pic.twitter.com/Nri8PWkwag
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 10, 2024
Hezbollah also fired a barrage of 10 rockets from Lebanon at the Western Galilee earlier Saturday evening. According to the IDF, all the rockets struck open areas, causing no injuries.
The IDF added that troops shelled the launch sites with artillery.
Meanwhile, the military said IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment in the north over the weekend, as Israel anticipates a major Hezbollah attack on the country in response to the recent killing of the terror group’s military chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
In a terse statement, the IDF said that Halevi visited an intelligence base in northern Israel with the head of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin on Friday, and was briefed on “the intelligence situation in the northern arena.”
Halevi and Gordin also met at the Northern Command headquarters in Safed to discuss the IDF’s readiness, the military added.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the Iran-backed group saying it is doing so to support Gaza following Hamas’s brutal terror onslaught against southern Israel the day before.
Tensions have been especially high as the terror group has vowed retaliation for Israel’s killing of Shukr on July 30, which came after a Hezbollah rocket attack killed 12 children in the Golan Heights days earlier.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 403 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 71 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
