BEIRUT: Hezbollah forces in south Lebanon on Tuesday launched a combined aerial attack with diversionary and assault drones on Israeli military targets.
The focus of the Lebanese group’s attack was the headquarters of the Golani Brigade at the Shraga barracks, north of the city of Acre.
The attack was described as “a new qualitative strike against an Israeli site,” using drones said to be able to bypass Israeli radar and avoid Iron Dome missiles.
A security source told Arab News that the attack was “a sensitive targeting.” The area struck is more than 15 km from the border with Lebanon.
“This targeting took place in broad daylight while the Israelis were celebrating the Jewish Passover,” the source said.
Hezbollah said it launched the drones “in response to Israeli aggression against the Lebanese town of Aadloun and the assassination of a (Hezbollah) cadre there.”
Videos on social media showed explosions and smoke rising north of the coastal city of Acre, with beachgoers fleeing in all directions.
Israeli media reported that “those present on the beach were evacuated after a Hezbollah drone was intercepted in the skies over Nahariyya and Acre.”
A few hours after Hezbollah’s strike, Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike on the town of Hanin, 7 km north of Bint Jbeil. It destroyed a two-story family house.
Initial reports said there were two casualties, including a woman, and five were wounded, some seriously, including women and children. The injured were transferred to hospitals.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military drone struck a car between the towns of Adloun and Al-Kharayeb, killing Hussein Ali Azqul, who reports suggested was an engineer working in Hezbollah’s air defense unit.
The group was left mourning a second member, Mohammed Khalil Attiya, from Qana, who died from injuries received a few days ago. The Israeli army described him as a “leader in the Radwan Force (a Hezbollah special unit).”
In ongoing cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, the former said it had attacked “a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers in the vicinity of Al-Asi,” to which Israeli fighter jets retaliated with airstrikes on the towns of Blida and Hula.
Israeli airstrikes continued relentlessly on Tuesday night, striking Yaroun and Al-Aishiya as well as other districts in south Lebanon.
The Israeli military also launched flash bombs over villages in the western and central areas, extending to the outskirts of Tyre, and on Tuesday morning fired heavy weapon rounds toward the towns of Naqoura and Jabal Al-Labouneh.
