Reported Israeli airstrikes on military targets in Syria

IDF strikes 150 Hezbollah targets in 24 hours; rocket attack wounds man in north

Troops find weapons in almost every home in some villages, officers say; military imposes third closed zone on border; UN refugee chief warns of migration crisis from airstrikes

IDF troops are seen operating in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo published October 6, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF troops are seen operating in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo published October 6, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday afternoon it had struck more than 150 Hezbollah targets over the preceding 24 hours, during its ongoing ground operations in southern Lebanon, as it issued a further evacuation order for civilians near several buildings in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Lebanon.

Troops with the IDF’s 98th and 36th divisions have been locating and destroying weapon depots, tunnel shafts, and other Hezbollah infrastructures in villages in southern Lebanon, the military said.

The soldiers have also been exchanging fire with Hezbollah operations in the area, and directing airstrikes on gunmen and sites used by the terror group.

The targets hit by the Israeli Air Force included anti-tank missile launch positions, cells of operatives, tunnels, and weapon depots, the IDF added.

While operating in southern Lebanon, troops are continuing to find massive amounts of weaponry left behind by Hezbollah operatives, according to the military.

Officers involved in the fighting in some of the villages in southern Lebanon said that Hezbollah placed weapons in nearly every single home.

Troops of the 188th Armored Brigade operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued on October 6, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF said that the 188th Armored Brigade, operating under the 36th Division, located several weapon caches and tunnels during their operations in recent days.

The troops also located and demolished a Hezbollah command center that the IDF said was used by the terror group to plan and carry out rocket fire on northern Israel.

“In the last few days we are focused on dismantling the above and underground infrastructure, and we will continue to do so as long as it takes, until we guarantee the return of the residents to the north in complete safety,” the commander of the 188th Brigade, Col. Or Vollozinsky, said in remarks provided by the IDF.

Hezbollah weapons seized by paratroopers and commandos during operations in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo published October 6, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

During the operations, the IDF imposed a new closed military zone on the Lebanon border, in the areas of the communities of Manara, Yiftah, and Malkia, on Sunday.

The military said the move followed a fresh assessment during ground operations inside southern Lebanon.

This map issued by the IDF on October 6, 2024, shows a closed military zone on the Lebanon border. (Israel Defense Forces)

It is the third closed military zone imposed on the northern border since the IDF launched its ground operations in Lebanon last week.

The order prohibits civilians from areas where the Israeli military is operating, including areas in Israel across the border from Lebanese villages where fighting may be taking place.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the border Sunday for a situation assessment with IDF Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin and 36th Division commander Brig. Gen. Moran Omer.

“A year ago we suffered a terrible blow,” Netanyahu said during the visit, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. “Over the past 12 months, we are changing reality from end to end.”

The premier said the international community has been impressed with Israel’s military might, telling troops of the 36th Division, “The whole world is astonished by the blows you inflict on our enemies.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with Maj. Gen Ori Gordin during a meeting on October 6, 2024. (PMO)

As troops operated in southern Lebanon on Sunday, a barrage of 25 rockets and several drones were fired from the country at northern Israel, some of which were intercepted by air defenses, while others impacted in the area, according to the IDF.

One rocket appeared to hit a home in the Galilee town of Ma’alot-Tarshiha, with video of the house on fire circulating on social media. Police reported widespread damage to property in the attack.

A 65-year-old man was also lightly wounded in a rocket impact there, medics said.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said the man was treated for injuries caused by the blast of the rocket impact.

Hezbollah claimed it launched rockets at a gathering of soldiers in Ma’alot-Tarshiha, which lies some 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the Lebanese border in the Western Galilee.

Around 10 p.m., several rockets fired from Lebanon bombarded the northern city of Karmiel, according to authorities, with reports of possible impacts inside the city.

Videos shared online show what appear to be successive rocket interceptions over the city of 50,000 some 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the northern border.

The Magen David Adom rescue service said it did not know of any casualties in the attack so far, but was checking possible impact sites.

There were also unverified reports of a building in the neighboring town of Deir al-Assad, taking a direct hit.

Also around 10 p.m. Sunday, the IDF called on Lebanese civilians near four buildings in the southern suburb of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh, to evacuate immediately ahead of airstrikes.

Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, published maps alongside the announcement, which called on civilians to distance themselves at least 500 meters from the sites, which the military said belong to Hezbollah.

In the past week, the IDF has issued several evacuation orders for specific sites in Dahiyeh ahead of airstrikes on Hezbollah infrastructure.

In a visit to Beirut, UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said that Lebanon is seeing a “major displacement crisis” as a result of Israeli airstrikes, and that some of the strikes have violated international law.

Lebanese government officials estimate that 1.2 million people are now displaced. The UN has appealed for $425.7 million to respond to the humanitarian crisis. About 40% has been funded so far.

Grandi said that a strike that cut access to a major border crossing between Lebanon and Syria had also created an obstacle for civilians attempting to flee to safety.

The escalating violence has pushed both Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees in Lebanon to cross the border en masse.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi gives a press conference in Beirut on October 6, 2024. (Ibrahim Amro/AFP)

In Syria, the state news agency SANA, citing a military source, said the Israeli Air Force carried out airstrikes in central Syria Sunday evening.

The report said the IAF warplanes launched their missiles from over northern Lebanon, and targeted several military sites in central Syria. The strikes caused “material losses,” SANA said.

The pro-government Sham FM radio says the airstrikes were carried out in the Homs area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that one Israeli strike hit an empty Iranian car factory in Homs, while the state news agency at one point quoted a local official as saying that no factories were targeted inside the city.

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel — which rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria — is believed to have carried out hundreds of strikes, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Hezbollah.

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 have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, and — excluding the soldiers killed in the ground operation — the deaths of 22 IDF soldiers and reservists.

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’s toll in the ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon stands at nine.

Hezbollah has named 516 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 94 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.

These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began a new offensive against Hezbollah in September, including a ground operation in which the military says at least 440 Hezbollah operatives have been killed.

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