Hezbollah claims to have carried out the first phase of a retaliatory attack against Israel in response to the assassination of commander Fuad Shukr in late July.
Earlier Sunday, Israel said it had launched airstrikes on southern Lebanon as a “preemptive” attack after detecting Hezbollah’s preparations to attack northern Israel.
As Hezbollah and Israel have been trading attacks back and forth across the border with some intensity since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October, this marks a significant escalation.
Exchange of attacks
Hezbollah’s “response” was expected, coming just weeks after targeted assassinations of senior commanders of Hezbollah and its ally Hamas, blamed on Israel.
The Lebanese group said it fired more than 320 Katyusha rockets at 11 Israeli military bases and barracks, including the Meron base and four sites in the occupied Golan Heights.
The two sides have been exchanging reciprocal attacks for months, and Sunday’s represented a marked escalation.
“Most of the Israeli strikes on Lebanon have taken place in the border area, up to 5km deep along the 120km border,” said Tel Aviv Tribune’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Lebanese town of Marjayoun.
“The border area is now a military zone. It has been evacuated… It has been struck several times by the Israeli army in recent months.”
Israel says 100 of its fighter jets bombed thousands of Hezbollah launch sites in southern Lebanon half an hour before Hezbollah’s planned launch, to protect Israelis from the planned attack.
The Lebanese news agency NNA reported that one person was seriously injured in an Israeli drone attack in Qasimia and an airstrike killed one person in the town of Khiam.
“Special situation”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a nationwide “special situation” for 48 hours starting at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Sunday.
Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport was temporarily closed in the early hours of the morning, amid reports of several injuries in northern Israel.
The Israeli military also announced a series of restrictions on civilians in northern Israel and the Golan Heights.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “determined to do everything possible to defend itself.” “Whoever harms us, we harm him,” he said.
After the attacks, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Khodr said that while Hezbollah claims this is just the beginning of its promised retaliation, there is no indication that a second phase is imminent.
“But the message that Israel has been sending since the early hours of the morning is that the ball is now in Hezbollah’s court with regard to further escalation, because we have heard the Israeli military spokesman say at least three times that they acted in self-defense,” she said.
“This is a very dangerous conflict, and has always been. Even though it is largely contained, there is a real fear that it could spread and get out of control.”
“Trying to avoid total war”
The Israeli military says most of its attacks against Hezbollah are currently in southern Lebanon, but it will strike wherever there is a threat.
Global fears of a full-blown regional conflict have grown following the assassinations last month of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Shukr in Beirut, both blamed on Israel.
The Israeli attacks have “the potential to drag the entire region into open war,” Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, told Tel Aviv Tribune, although he believes both sides will try to avoid open war.
At the same time, the United States said on Sunday that it would “continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Under President Joe Biden, “senior U.S. officials have been in constant communication with their Israeli counterparts,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.
Sunday’s attack comes as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel’s 11-month war on Gaza. Hezbollah has said it will stop fighting if there is a ceasefire.
No diplomatic settlement appears to be in sight, however, and “Israel is determined to change the rules of engagement” that would allow the return of all Israelis evacuated from northern Israel, Nader said.