170 rockets fired at north after ‘most senior’ Hezbollah officer killed in IDF strike
![](https://1776coalition.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/israel-flag.jpg)
No injuries were reported in the barrages.
Hezbollah fired more than 170 rockets, several missiles, and drones on northern Israel Wednesday in response to an Israeli airstrike that killed a senior terror leader the night before.
Hezbollah launched the barrages as the biggest attack in ongoing battles on the border with Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip war.
As Jewish Israelis celebrated Shavuot, the successive attacks began with an attack of 90 rockets launched at various areas of northern Israel. This was the first time in the war that Tiberias had been targeted.
Israel Defense Forces reported that another 70 rockets had been launched in the Mount Meron region, which is home to an important air traffic control facility. Ten rockets were launched at Kibbutz Sasa and an anti-tank missile was fired on Kibbutz Za’it.
Local authorities reported that a drone launched by the Lebanon exploded in an open space near Zivon in the north.
The military reported that air defenses shot down many of the rockets.
The attacks were not violent, but several fires were started in northern Israel by the rockets.
Fire and Rescue Service reported that 25 firefighting crews and eight aircraft were working together to put out fires in Amiad forest, near Beitjann and the Ein Zeitim forest.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rockets and missiles, saying that they had targeted several Israeli military targets, including the Meron Air Traffic Control Base, the Amiad Camp — which is located about 20 kilometers away from the border — and the Plasan Factory.
Hezbollah claimed the attacks were in response to an Israeli strike on Tuesday night, which took place near the border of Israel at Jouaiyya (in southern Lebanon), killing Taleb Abdullah as well as three other operatives.
The IDF confirmed on Wednesday that it carried out this strike.
Abdullah commanded Hezbollah Nasr, one of the three regional divisions located in south Lebanon. The unit has responsibility for the area between Mount Dov in the south of Lebanon and Bint Jbeil. It is also considered the first line of defense and attack against Israel by the terrorist group.
According to IDF, Abdullah is the “most senior” Hezbollah leader it has killed in the ongoing battle.
Hezbollah called Abdullah a commander when it announced his death. Hezbollah rarely refers its senior operatives killed in Israeli strikes to be commanders. Wissam Al-Tawil was the only other terrorist referred to by Israel as a leader. He was the deputy chief of Radwan, a terror group elite force. Abdullah, according to al-Tawil, was the senior operative.
The IDF reported that Abdullah had been behind many attacks against northern Israel over the last eight months. These attacks were mostly directed at the city of Kiryat Shmona and other towns, as well as army positions, in the Galilee panhandle, Upper Galilee and Golan Heights areas.
Abdullah, who was killed on Tuesday night, had ordered a rocket barrage in the Kiryat-Shmona region as Israelis were gathered for Shavuot celebrations.
The military released footage of the Jouaiyya attack, while the commander and three operatives were gathered together in a building to hold a meeting. All four were dead.
Abdullah, who had many years’ experience with the terror group, was also considered a “source” of knowledge by the IDF. Abdullah took part in a 2005 attempt to kidnap ten people in Ghajar. During the 2006 Lebanon War, he was commander of Bint Jbeil, according the military.
The IDF warned that it was ready for a terror group response to its strike and prepared for more attacks throughout the day.
After the barrages of rockets, the IDF announced that it had struck four Hezbollah sites in Yater, southern Lebanon, which were used to launch the attack. The military also said that the rocket launchers used to carry out the barrages in Hanine and Yaroun were also destroyed.
Hezbollah has been attacking Israeli military posts and communities along the border almost daily since the day following Hamas’s attack on October 7. The group claims it is doing this to support Gaza during the ongoing war.
The skirmishes along the border have so far resulted in the death of 10 civilians from the Israeli side as well as 15 IDF soldiers, reservists, and other personnel. There were also several attacks by Syria without any injuries.
Hezbollah named 342 of its members killed by Israel in the current skirmishes. Most were in Lebanon, but some were also in Syria. Another 62 terrorists, including a Lebanese army soldier and dozens civilians, were killed in Lebanon.
Israel is open to a diplomatic resolution to the conflict but has also threatened to go to war with Hezbollah in order to restore security in the north of Israel where tens and thousands of civilians have been displaced.
The IDF has said that it will continue to target Hezbollah leaders who are behind the attacks against Israel, even though Israel’s political echelon is yet to make a decision about launching an offensive on Lebanon and making the Gaza Strip a secondary front.