Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau
Mondoweiss / September 22, 2024
Hezbollah launched a barrage of at least 115 rockets against Israeli targets in retaliation for Israel’s pager and electronics explosion attacks across Lebanon and following the assassination of top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, September 22, Hezbollah launched several barrages of rockets on northern Israeli targets in the Haifa region, including a military airbase.
The Lebanese resistance group said in a statement that the salvo of rockets was an “initial response” to the “monstrous massacre perpetrated by the Israeli enemy across Lebanese territory on Tuesday and Wednesday,” referring to the Israeli pager and electronics explosions last week, which claimed the lives of 32 people and injured over 3,000 others.
The Lebanese response also comes two days after Israel’s bombing of Beirut’s southern Dahiya district on Friday that targeted and killed 15 leaders of the Radwan Force, Hezbollah’s elite military unit trained to invade Israeli territory. Among the slain were top Hezbollah commander and founder of the Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.
Hezbollah announced in a statement that its response targeted the Ramat David military airbase southeast of Haifa with Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets manufactured by the Lebanese resistance group. Earlier in July, Hezbollah had aired aerial footage of the airbase identifying it as a potential target in the event of a wider confrontation with Israel.
In another statement on Sunday, the Lebanese resistance group added that it had also targeted the Rafael company, a military electronics manufacturer north of Haifa. Hezbollah reportedly targeted the company’s manufacturing facilities with Fadi-1, Fadi-2, and Katyusha rockets at 6:30 a.m.
As of the time of writing, the Hezbollah retaliation has amounted to some 115 projectiles that have been launched in four volleys, according to Ynet.
Sirens were heard across northern towns and cities early on Sunday morning. Five Israelis have been reported injured in the north, including three in the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Biyalik, where destruction to residential buildings and the breakout of fires was reported.
The Israeli army announced that schools would be cancelled in the north until Monday, while northern Israeli hospitals have been advised to operate according to war protocols and to transport patients to underground facilities.
Ibrahim Aqil, assassinated in Beirut on Friday, was widely considered to be Hezbollah’s third-in-command after Fouad Shukr, who was also assassinated by Israel earlier on July 30.
Israel followed up its assassination of Aqil and members of the Radwan force with 400 Israeli airstrikes on different targets in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported. The attacks on southern Lebanon have continued into Sunday, as the Israeli army continues to pound Hezbollah sites.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis said in a post on X on Sunday that the region was on the brink of “an imminent catastrophe” following recent escalations.
The cross-border strikes on Saturday and Sunday represent the largest exchange of fire to take place between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza last year.
