‘Ground trembles’ as Hezbollah launches 150 missiles in revenge strike

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese village of Jebbain, near the border with Israel on May 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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Updated 26 May 2024
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‘Ground trembles’ as Hezbollah launches 150 missiles in revenge strike

  • The attacks marked a significant deterioration in the situation on the southern Lebanese border

BEIRUT: Residents of southern Lebanon’s border area took shelter late on Sunday as Hezbollah launched more than 150 missiles at targets inside Israel in one of the largest attacks since the conflict began.

“The ground trembles beneath us and the sky is covered by missiles,” one resident told Arab News.

Hezbollah’s barrage followed a series of Israeli drone strikes earlier in the day that killed at least eight of the group’s members and civilians.

Hezbollah responded by launching missiles toward Kiryat Shmona, the Golan, and military sites in the Al-Manara and Misgav Am areas. 

The attacks marked a significant deterioration in the situation on the southern Lebanese border.

“These are unprecedented barrages of missiles,”  the resident said.

“The area is shaking from the sounds of missiles above our heads heading toward the other side of the border. We see Iron Dome explosions above the towns all the way to the Nabatiyeh area.”

After the two deadly attacks on Naqoura and Aita Al-Shaab earlier on Sunday, the Israeli army struck a motorcycle in the town of Hula with a missile from a military drone, killing three Hezbollah members, Tariq Awad, Hussein Salman Mustafa, and Wissam Ali Hamid, whose brother was killed in an Israeli attack on the city of Bint Jbeil a few weeks ago.  

The Israeli army attacked the town of Yaron in the Bint Jbeil district with two air-to-surface missiles, killing two Hezbollah members. 

The towns of Aitaroun and Al-Adisa were hit by dozens of phosphorus shells, causing’ fires in several neighborhoods.


Palestinian president affirms efforts to release Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prison

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Palestinian president affirms efforts to release Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prison

  • Mahmoud Abbas praised Barghouti’s resilience during a meeting with his wife, Fadwa, at presidential headquarters in Ramallah

LONDON: President Mahmoud Abbas emphasized the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to support calls for the release of senior Fatah leader and Central Committee member Marwan Barghouti from an Israeli prison.

On Tuesday, Abbas received Fadwa Barghouti, his wife, at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, affirming that his release has always been a top priority for both the presidency and the Fatah movement.

Abbas praised Barghouti, who has been in Israeli prisons since April 2002 after receiving five life sentences plus 40 years for his conviction of carrying out deadly attacks on Israelis during the peak of the Second Intifada of 2000.

Hamas proposed Barghouti’s name on the list of prisoners to be exchanged for Israeli captives, but Israel declined to release him in October. The 66-year-old national figure also served over four years in prison in 1978 for political activism. Analysts have long seen him as a potential presidential candidate if and when he is released from prison.

His family accused Israel Prison Service officers of having beaten him unconscious. In August, the Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted video footage showing him visiting Barghouti in prison and making threatening remarks to him.