BEIRUT — More than 160 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel Wednesday morning in one of the largest barrages since the cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army erupted last October. The rockets come hours after the killing of several Hezbollah operatives including a senior commander in an overnight Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said at least 70 rockets were launched at the Mount Meron area in northern Israel. Several were intercepted by air defenses while others fell in open areas and some caused material damage in other locations.
Earlier in the morning, another barrage of some 90 rockets were fired toward the northern Israeli cities of Safed, Rosh Pina and Tiberias as well as surrounding areas in the Galilee, the army said in a second announcement. No injuries have been reported.
Breaking right now Hezbollah is pummelling Israel with rockets after they bombed south Lebanon last night. FAFO. pic.twitter.com/mOPrXLYBEf
— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) June 12, 2024
In response, Israeli warplanes struck what the military said was a rocket launcher used by Lebanese Hezbollah in its early attack in the southern Lebanon town of Yaroun.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the massive barrage of rockets and claimed to have struck several Israeli military sites including a military factory in Sasa, the Israeli army’s northern headquarters in Ein Zeitim near Safad, a command center in Amiad near Tiberias and the Meron air control base.
The Iran-backed group said the attack was in retaliation for last night’s Israeli strike in Jouya, which killed its fighters identified as Muhammad Hussein Sabra, Hussein Qasim Hameed, Ali Salim Soufan as well as Taleb Sami Abdullah, the most high-ranking Hezbollah commander killed since the start of the hostilities in Oct. 8.
Hezbollah said the four were “martyred on the road to Jerusalem,” a phrase commonly used by the group for its fighters killed by Israel since October.
The Israeli army has not commented on the strike.
More than 300 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since the two parties began exchanging fire along the Lebanon-Israel border amid the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah says its operation is in support of the Hamas group and the Palestinians in Gaza.
The cross-border fighting has also killed around 90 civilians in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally, and at least 15 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians in Israel, according to the army.
Who is Abdullah?
Abdullah, also known as Abu Taleb, was reportedly the head of Hezbollah’s al-Nasr Unit, which operates in the eastern sector of the southern border area with Israel, extending from Bint Jbeil to the Shebaa Farms area.
He outranked Wissam Tawil, a high-level Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli strike in January, according to Lebanese sources who spoke to Reuters.
Some social media users claimed Abdullah was responsible for the killing of numerous people inside Syria. Hezbollah has been involved in the Syrian war in support of President Bashar al-Assad since it started in 2011.
Some photos circulating online showed Abdullah sitting alongside Iran’s Qasem Soleimani, the slain Quds Force commander killed in a US drone attack in Baghdad in 2020.
▪️لا نكذب عندما نقول، الحرس الثوري الإيراني يحتل جنوب لبنان
▪️القيادي الكبير طالب عبدالله الذي تم إغتياله في جنوب لبنان، كان الإبن المدلل لقاسم سلماني pic.twitter.com/d9p0BaS4Mv
— Raymond Hakim (@RaymondFHakim) June 12, 2024
Abdullah was born in 1969 and was from the southern village of Aadchit, according to Hezbollah, which did not give more details.