Two men killed in Hezbollah rocket attack on Nahariya, IDF pounds southern Lebanon

Two people were killed when a rocket exploded in the building where they were working in the northern coastal city of Nahariya on Tuesday as the Hezbollah terror group fired dozens of rockets and drones at northern and central Israel.

The almost non-stop rocket fire from Lebanon came as fighting continued in southern Lebanon and Israel reported it has destroyed the majority of Hezbollah’s weapons facilities in Beirut.

The attack on Nahariya killed Ziv Belfer, 52, and Shamoun Najm, 54, both residents of the city, the municipality said. The two were pronounced dead at the scene, next to the warehouse that suffered a direct hit.

“It surprised us, because there’s a shelter there 10 steps away, and Ziv always goes to the shelter. It hurts because if there had been time, he would have gone to the shelter. I’m shocked,” Belfer’s sister Avital told Hebrew media.

In Kibbutz Kabri, the Magen David Adom emergency service said another two men in their 30s were lightly hurt by shrapnel in another impact.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, 10 rockets were launched from Lebanon in that attack, some of which were intercepted while others struck inside towns in the Western Galilee or open areas.

Surveillance camera footage showed the deadly impact in Nahariya.

The attack came hours after a Hezbollah drone struck a kindergarten in the Haifa suburb of Nesher. No one was hurt in that incident because staff rushed the children to a bomb shelter seconds before the impact.

Medics are responding to reports of two critically wounded in a rocket impact in the northern coastal city of Nahariya a short while ago.

According to the IDF, 10 rockets were launched in the attack, some of which were intercepted and others which struck inside towns in the… pic.twitter.com/i3ZG3BqGBn

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 12, 2024

In another barrage Tuesday afternoon, two rockets fired toward the Haifa Bay hit open areas, according to the military.

The IDF also said it intercepted a drone launched from Lebanon over the Western Galilee, while another drone struck an open area in the northern community of Ben Ami, close to Nahariya, causing no injuries.

Separately, three rockets launched from Lebanon at central Israel were successfully intercepted by air defenses, the IDF said, with no reports of injuries.

Shortly thereafter, Hezbollah claimed it had targeted an “air base south of Tel Aviv… with a salvo of quality missiles.”

‘We have taken away a lot’

Meanwhile, speaking to ground troops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that the military is “working very hard” and striking the terror group across Lebanon and Syria.

“From [Hassan] Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the commanders of the various units and areas… and a great many operatives… we have taken away a lot of capabilities,” Halevi said.

He added that it is “very very important” that ground forces are capturing large amounts of Hezbollah weapons in southern Lebanon, and “at the same time, the IDF is working very hard, striking heavily in Beirut, Hezbollah targets.”

“We are striking deep [in Lebanon] and we are striking a lot in Syria and on the Syria-Lebanon border, so that weapons do not reach Hezbollah,” Halevi said.

In the ongoing ground operation there, the IDF’s 36th Division has reached “new targets” belonging to the terror group, the military said on Tuesday.

The IDF said troops with the division located rocket launchers primed for an attack on Israel, and demolished sites belonging to the terror group.

Also in the past day, the military said the Air Force struck some 100 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, including dozens of operatives, rocket launchers, weapon depots and other infrastructure.

Lebanon’s health ministry said five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a village about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Israeli border, which state-run media said targeted a house.

“The Israeli enemy strike on Tefahta killed five people,” the ministry said in a statement, with the official National News Agency reporting that “enemy aircraft launched a strike a short while ago on the town of Tefahta, targeting an inhabited house.”

The ministry didn’t say if those killed were civilians or Hezbollah operatives. Israel says its strikes are directed against the latter.

Israeli fighter jets also carried out a series of airstrikes on Hezbollah sites in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday.

According to the military, the targets included command centers, weapon manufacturing plans and other military infrastructure.

The Hezbollah sites were located “in the heart of a civilian population,” the military said, accusing the terror group of using human shields.

Before the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the area.

One airstrike on an apartment building east of the capital killed six people, while four remained buried under the rubble, paramedics at the scene said.

Israeli fighter jets carried out a series of airstrikes on Hezbollah sites in Beirut's southern suburbs earlier today, the IDF says.

According to the military, the targets included command centers, weapon manufacturing plans, and other military infrastructure.

The Hezbollah… pic.twitter.com/21h6uvhRdW

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 12, 2024

Beirut weapons sites destroyed

Amid the strikes on Beirut, the IDF announced that it had demolished the majority of Hezbollah’s weapons manufacturing and storage facilities in the Lebanese capital, after carrying out dozens of airstrikes on the city in recent months.

According to the military, over the past two decades, the Lebanese terror group constructed dozens of weapons manufacturing plants and depots under buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh.

The facilities were used by Hezbollah to manufacture and store hundreds of missiles and rockets of different kinds.

In a statement, the IDF said that in recent months it focused on demolishing the sites in a series of airstrikes carried out by fighter jets. During the strikes, secondary blasts were seen, confirming the IDF’s intelligence that the buildings were used by Hezbollah and contained explosives.

One of the main Hezbollah weapons manufacturing plants that was struck recently had been revealed by Israel at the United Nations in 2020, along with other facilities.

According to the IDF, that complex was built under five residential buildings in Beirut, which housed some 50 families. The site was also located close to a school.

The IDF said that Hezbollah would manufacture various components at the site, including parts for precision missiles.

Before each of the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the corresponding area.

The military said Hezbollah’s use of civilian sites for weapon storage and manufacturing “directly endangers the residents of Beirut, as many explosives are hidden under the citizens, often without their knowledge.”

The IDF in its statement also noted the deadly 2020 Beirut port blast, which occurred after some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored there exploded. The military said that the ammonium nitrate was being “used as a component in Hezbollah’s munitions production process.” More than 220 people were killed in the explosion.

Increased drone attacks from Iraq

Amid the fighting in Lebanon, the IDF has also seen a marked increase in drone attacks from other Iranian proxies,

Some 60 drones have been launched at Israel since the beginning of November, according to new IDF data.

The UAVs were launched at Israel from Lebanon and Iraq. The military said that 90% of the drones were intercepted by air defenses.

There has been a sharp rise in drone attacks on Israel by Iran-backed groups in recent months.

Since the beginning of the war, some 1,300 drones have been launched at Israel, from all fronts — Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Iran.