Israeli Air Force target Hezbollah using precision strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File | Photo Credit: AP

Israel launched a series of precision strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday (August 25, 2024), saying it destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers and thwarted a major attack. While the Lebanese group insisted it had been able to deliver a drone and rocket barrage of its own.

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The Israeli military said around 100 of its fighter jets had struck more than 270 targets, “90%” of which “were short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel”.

The strikes, which began at 5 a.m. local time, was supported by mid-air refueling to ensure the effectiveness of the military campaign aimed at neutralising Hezbollah’s growing threat along Israel’s northern border.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video of the strikes “to stop a large-scale terrorist attack from Hezbollah.” “Our operation in Lebanon targeted the terrorist infrastructure Hezbollah planned to use against us, protecting Israeli families and homes,” the IDF said.

A soldier in the Israeli navy was killed in combat and two more wounded, the military said.

Netanyahu warns strikes in Lebanon ‘not the final word’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Sunday’s strikes in Lebanon were “not the final word” in his country’s military campaign against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

“We are striking Hezbollah with surprising, crushing blows… This is another step towards changing the situation in the north and safely returning our residents to their homes. And, I repeat, this is not the final word,” he told a cabinet meeting.

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“Additionally, the IDF (Israeli military) intercepted all the drones that Hezbollah launched at a strategic target in central Israel,” he said, without identifying what the target was.

Hezbollah says it delivered a drone and rocket barrage of its own

Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Lebanese armed group, denied that thousands of launchers had been destroyed or that Israel had thwarted a larger attack. It said its own operation “was completed and accomplished”.

Hezbollah said its militants launched “a large number of drones” and “more than 320” Katyusha rockets targeting “enemy positions” across the border.

The group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah named the “main target” as the Glilot military intelligence base near Tel Aviv, which Israeli media reported is home to the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency.

(With inputs from AFP)