50 rockets hit Israel after 2nd night of massive strikes on Hezbollah arms depots deep within Lebanon
The terror group Hezbollah launched 50 rockets at the Israeli Golan Heights on Wednesday morning, after Israel Defense Forces bombed several of its arms depots deep within Lebanon for the second night in a row.
The Hezbollah rocket barrage targeted the area of the town of Katzrin, with between three and five rockets penetrating the aerial defenses and slamming directly into houses in the city, Israeli media reported.
One 30-year-old man was left in moderate condition after being hit by shrapnel when a rocket struck his home, while another person was treated for shock.
“At one of the scenes we saw thick smoke from a private house that was on fire,” said Oren Avitan, a paramedic with the Magen David Adom emergency rescue services. “This is a great miracle that happened here, with such great damage, the event could have ended completely differently.”
His colleague Mohammad Hosni added: “A man came out of the house fully conscious, he walked on his feet suffering from shrapnel wounds, apparently from glass and the impact of the shockwave.”
Fire crews were working at several locations of the direct hits to extinguish fires caused by explosions and to search for victims.
Security officials told Ynet News that, contrary to previous attacks in the area – which at least ostensibly targeted IDF bases while often also hitting civilian areas – the salvo on Wednesday morning was intentionally targeted at the civilian population in Katzrin.
Hezbollah, however, claimed it had aimed for the nearby IDF Tznobar military base.
Footage taken by residents showed raging fires and roofs collapsing at the sites of the rocket impact.
“This is our reality here in Katzrin, this situation is simply not acceptable to us,” said Uri Kellner, head of the Golan Regional Council. “The Israeli government must stop this.”
Early in the morning, residents of the Upper Galilee region and the Golan Heights, including Katzrin, had been warned to avoid gatherings and stay near protected areas as much as possible, following an IDF assessment after its overnight strikes in Lebanon.
The IDF said in the morning that Israeli Air Force (IAF) jets had struck Hezbollah weapons warehouses in the Bekaa Valley for the second night in a row, and again noted that secondary explosions indicated the large quantities of munitions stored there.
“In addition, a compound that was used by the air defense system of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in the Bekaa area and posed a threat to Air Force aircraft was attacked,” the IDF stated.
The Lebanese news outlet L’Orient Today reported that four strikes were carried out around midnight: two in the Nabi Chit area; one in the neighboring town of Saraine; and a fourth further west in Boudai. Nabi Chit lies some 80 km (50 miles) from Israel’s northern border.
“The terrorist organization Hezbollah places its assets in the heart of civilian populations while cynically exploiting the citizens of Lebanon, the IDF will continue to act against the terrorist organizations and prevent terrorism against the State of Israel and the IDF forces,” the IDF stated.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the strikes killed at least one person and injured 20 others.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah also announced the death of four of its operatives in Israeli strikes targeting the village of Dhaira in southern Lebanon.
The events on Wednesday morning followed the same pattern as the day before when Israel struck weapons depots in the same area.
Hezbollah reacted with an initial salvo of 50 rockets, before continuing to launch rocket barrages throughout the day. Overall, the terror group launched about 115 rockets toward Israel on Tuesday.
The IDF, for its part, said it struck another Hezbollah terrorist near Beit Lif overnight. Late on Tuesday, the IAF said it struck a launcher near Abu Shesh that was involved in the earlier attacks on Ya’ara.
In addition, the IAF killed another terrorist near Wadi Hamool, in addition to striking military buildings in several towns across southern Lebanon.
