Hezbollah member killed as IDF strikes in Lebanon after latest rocket fire at north
Projectile hits home in largely evacuated border town; Gantz tells European envoys that if Lebanese government doesn’t rein in Iran-backed terror group, the country will soon pay
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Several rockets fired from Lebanon landed in Israel on Monday, setting off sirens in the north of the country and causing damage, but no injuries.
Amid the continued Hezbollah attacks that have pushed the two countries to the brink of war, the Israel Defense Forces carried out numerous strikes in Lebanon, with the Iran-backed terror group later announcing the death of one of its members.
Former war cabinet member Benny Gantz meanwhile warned European ambassadors that if the government in Beirut doesn’t restrain Hezbollah, all of Lebanon would soon pay.
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 during the Israel-Hamas war there.
After several hours of calm Monday morning, aside from a false alarm overnight, a number of rockets hit Israel in the afternoon. One struck the northern border town of Metula, the military said.
There were no reports of injuries, with Metula having largely been evacuated. According to Hebrew media reports, the rocket hit an unoccupied home, with no sirens activated to warn of the attack.
Rocket sirens were also heard in the town of Kiryat Shmona and at least seven rockets hit areas in the north during the afternoon. Five rockets were fired at the northern community of Maayan Baruch, setting off sirens. The IDF said the rockets struck open areas, causing no injuries.
Earlier, one rocket was fired at Dovev, setting off a siren there and another was fired at Ramot Naftali, setting off sirens. According to the IDF, both rockets struck open areas, causing no injuries.
The IDF announced a series of strikes in southern Lebanon throughout the day, including on buildings in Aitaroun and Ayta ash-Shab where Hezbollah operatives were gathered. Fighter jets also bombed additional buildings the army said was used by the terror group and other Hezbollah infrastructure in Markaba, Houla and Kafr Kila.
מטוסי קרב תקפו מוקדם יותר היום שני מבנים צבאיים בהם פעלו מחבלים במרחבים עיתרון ועייתא א-שעב שבדרום לבנון, לצד מבנים צבאיים ותשתיות טרור במרחבים מרכבא, חולא וכפר כילא שבדרום לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/fTmGxYNws9
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 1, 2024
In the morning, the IDF said it carried out an airstrike against a group of Hezbollah operatives spotted entering a building used by the terror group in southern Lebanon’s Blida.
The Hezbollah members were identified by artillery forces of the 91st “Galilee” Regional Division, and a short while later, a fighter jet struck the building, the IDF said.
כוחות חטיבת האש של אוגדה 91 זיהו מוקדם יותר היום מחבלים נכנסים למבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב בליידא שבדרום לבנון.
בסגירת מעגל מהירה, זמן קצר לאחר הזיהוי, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו את המבנה בו שהו המחבלים pic.twitter.com/mWFz3W2mmq— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 1, 2024
In missions overnight, the IDF said it struck other Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. The targets included buildings used by the terror group in Kafr Kila and other infrastructure in Houla, Biyyada, and Rab al-Thalathine, according to the military.
מטוסי קרב תקפו לאורך הלילה מטרות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון, בהן מבנים צבאיים במרחב הכפר כילא ותשתיות טרור במרחבים חולא, אל ביידא ורב א-תלתין שבדרום לבנון.
בנוסף, כוחות צה"ל ביצעו ירי ארטילרי להסרת איום למרחב א-דהירה שבדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/RKZ10a4J7k
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 1, 2024
In a statement Monday evening, Hezbollah declared the death of a member killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives killed in Israeli strikes. He was named as Hamza Shour, from the coastal city of Tyre.
Lebanon to ‘soon enough start feeling’ war
While IDF operations have focused on Hezbollah, Gantz warned the European ambassadors that the Lebanese state could be in the crosshairs if it doesn’t stop the terror organization’s attacks.
“There is a state over there and it has a government,” said Gantz at briefing organized by ELNET, the European Leadership Network, “and it cannot hold the stick from both sides unless it wants to break it on its own knee.”
“If we have to break it, then we’ll do so,” continued the National Unity party leader and former IDF chief of staff. “So far Lebanon has not paid the price of this war, and soon enough they are going to start feeling it. They need to make sure Hezbollah stops. Hezbollah needs to decide whether it’s an Iranian branch or a Lebanese organization and pay the price for what comes with this.”
Amid policy clashes with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gantz last month pulled his party out of the emergency government his party joined following Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack, which sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and the cross-border skirmishes between Hezbollah and Israel.
Gantz told the ambassadors that Israel cannot allow Hezbollah to be in a position to carry out an attack similar to the Hamas-led onslaught, during which 3,000 Palestinian terrorists burst into southern Israel from Gaza and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while taking 251 as hostages.
He blamed Iran, which also backs Hamas, as the “cornerstone of all these matters and the regional instability.
Gantz’s remarks came after the Iraqi Resistance Coordination Committee, a group of militia factions, vowed to increase attacks on Israel if tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon escalate into all-out war, the Al Mayadeen outlet reported Sunday.
The pro-Hezbollah Lebanese outlet also said that the committee threatened Washington, saying that in the case of war between Israel and Hezbollah, US interests in Iraq and across the Middle East would become a legitimate target.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have claimed a number of drone attacks on the southern city of Eilat in the last several months.
Hezbollah has also increasingly used drones, with several launched Sunday from Lebanon at Israel. The IDF said that one explosive-laden drone struck the Merom Golan area, injuring 18 troops. One of the soldiers was seriously wounded, and the rest were listed in good condition.
The terror group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted an Israeli military site in the area in response to IDF strikes against it earlier in the day.
‘Effectively lost sovereignty’
Also Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel “has effectively lost sovereignty in the northern quadrant of its country because people don’t feel safe to go to their homes.”
In an on-stage interview at the Brookings Institution, Blinken reiterated his belief that Israel does not want a war in Lebanon, but admitted “they may well be prepared to engage in one if necessary — from their perspective — to protect their interests.”
According to Blinken, neither Hezbollah or Lebanon want a war that would engulf the latter, nor does Iran because it would prefer to save the terror group for a scenario in which it has a direct conflict with Israel.
“On the one hand, no one actually wants a war. On the other hand, you have momentum that may be leading in that direction in which we are determined to try to arrest,” Blinken said.
He asserted that the US has been working tirelessly to broker an agreement that would include “making sure that forces… are pulled back so that they can’t endanger people every single day” — an apparent recognition of Israel’s demand that Hezbollah retreat north of the Litani River, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the border.
Blinken also argued that securing a ceasefire in Gaza was the best way to end attacks by both Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
So far, the skirmishes on the northern border have resulted in 10 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 15 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 357 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 65 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Israel has warned that it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border, with tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes in the north due to the rocket and drone attacks, and has warned that, should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.
While the political leadership has not yet made a decision on launching an offensive in Lebanon and turning the Gaza Strip into the secondary front, the IDF has said it continues to target Hezbollah commanders who were behind attacks on Israel.
Jacob Magid, Times of Israel and agencies staff contributed to this report.