Hezbollah Launches Massive Rocket Barrage in Retaliation for Commander’s Assassination

By Yoni Weiss

Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group launched a massive barrage of rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday and Thursday, in response to the killing of a top commander. The slain terrorist, Hajj Abu Taleb, was the commander of the Nasr Unit in southern Lebanon and is believed to be the highest-ranking Hezbollah member killed in the war so far.

Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas backed by Iran, has been trading fire with Israel almost daily since the Israel-Hamas war began eight months ago and demands a Gaza truce to halt its attacks.

Air raid sirens blared across northern Israel as approximately 160 projectiles were launched from southern Lebanon, marking one of the most significant attacks since the conflict began. Although many were intercepted or caused brush fires, there were no reports of casualties.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, targeting two military bases to avenge Taleb’s death. Taleb, a senior commander in charge of the Lebanon-Israel front, was killed along with three other officials in an Israeli airstrike on a house near the border.

“Our response after the martyrdom of Abu Taleb will be to intensify our operations in severity, strength, quantity, and quality,” senior Hezbollah official Hachem Saffieddine said during a funeral ceremony for Abu Taleb Sami Abdullah. “Let the enemy wait for us in the battlefield.”

The IDF confirmed the strike, identifying Taleb as a central figure in directing terrorist attacks against Israel.

The Israeli strike on Tuesday destroyed a house where Abdullah and three other officials were meeting, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border. The Israeli military said the attack was part of a strike on a Hezbollah command and control center used to direct attacks against Israel in recent months.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that Abdullah was in charge of a large part of the Lebanon-Israel front, including the area facing the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, which Hezbollah has repeatedly attacked in recent days.

The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abdullah had joined Hezbollah decades ago and took part in attacks against Israeli forces. Another Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Abdullah was the commander of the group’s Nasr Unit, which is