Hezbollah Escalates Attacks on Israel, Prompting Intense Retaliation

By Yoni Weiss

Shabbos witnessed a surge in Hezbollah’s drone and rocket assaults on Israel, leading to the highest number of sirens activated so far this year.

From Shabbos morning onwards, the terrorist organization launched numerous drones and rockets at Israel in nearly 15 separate attacks, with no casualties, baruch Hashem. In response, Israel retaliated by striking Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon and deeper into Lebanese territory.

By 8 a.m., Hezbollah had already sent at least four drones into Israeli airspace, prompting sirens to blare in the Upper Galilee and Golan Heights regions. Israel reacted with airstrikes and artillery barrages, targeting locations in southern Lebanon and other strategic points.

Drone attacks resumed shortly before 2 p.m. and persisted throughout the afternoon and evening, with nine strikes occurring along the northern border. Additionally, one rocket attack targeted the small border farming community of Shutla.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group, reported that one Israeli strike targeted a Hezbollah commander and his associate at the Lebanon-Syria border. Their condition remains unknown.

Lebanese media documented damage and casualties in southern Lebanese towns like Ayta ash Shab, known to be Hezbollah strongholds, due to Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah’s assaults persisted throughout the day, with at least six drone and rocket attacks targeting northern Israel, including border towns like Arab al-Aramshe, where Major (res.) Dor Zimel, Hy”d, was critically injured and later succumbed to his wounds in a Hezbollah drone strike last month.

Simultaneously, around 10 rockets were fired in a significant barrage from the northern Gaza Strip toward the southern city of Ashkelon on Shabbos afternoon. Approximately half of them were intercepted by air defenses, while the remainder landed in uninhabited areas.