DRAMATIC footage appears to show Israel unleash a barrage of airstrikes on sites used by the fearsome terrorist group Hezbollah, as IDF troops push deeper into the Gaza Strip.
The targeted attacks were carried out on Saturday in response to a shooting from Lebanese territory, the Israeli Air Force claimed.
Footage released by the Israeli Air Force appeared to show it attack Hezbollah targets
The air force claimed the attacks were in response to shooting from Lebanon
APBlack smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Lebanese border village Aita al-Shaab[/caption]
Video published by the air force to social media appeared to show strikes on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli Air Force wrote on X, formerly Twitter, about 12pm: “In the last hour, Air Force fighter jets attacked targets of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah in response to the shooting that was carried out from the Lebanese territory earlier today, at the same time as the attacks by means of artillery fire and tanks.
“Among the targets that were attacked, terrorist infrastructures, rocket warehouses, and compounds used by the organisation.”
Hezbollah also released footage of what it claimed were attacks on Israeli positions along the Lebanese border.
It said in a statement that “suitable rockets and weapons” were used in the attacks and “direct hits were scored and technical equipment were destroyed”.
The apparent retaliation attacks by Israel came just one day after Hezbollah’s terror chief Hassan Nasrallah made his first public remarks on the Israel-Hamas war.
His address included a chilling warning to Israel, fuelling fears of an all-out war: “If the enemy starts to attack any Lebanon area, they would make the hugest, the stupidest mistake.
“I’ll say it with all the transparency, on our front, all options are open.
“We must be ready for all options.”
Thick black smoke billowed from the Lebanese village of Aita al Shaab on Saturday as Israel-Lebanon border clashes intensified.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported airstrikes on the outskirts of several border villages including Labbouneh and Hibarieh.
Israel’s military claimed to have struck militant positions along the border as Hezbollah attacked Israeli army posts along the frontier.
It came after the Israel Defence Forces’ engineering forces and tanks reportedly launched a raid in the southern Gaza Strip overnight and into today to map out buildings and clear planted explosive devices.
Israeli raids in the southern Strip are said to be in preparation for future stages of war.
Palestinians in Gaza today reported airstrikes across the besieged enclave – including in the south where Israel had told civilians to seek refuge.
An estimated 800,000 Palestinians fled from Gaza City and other northern areas to the south after repeated Israeli calls to evacuate.
Hundreds of thousands of people remain in the north, as many left only to return upon discovering Israel was also carrying out some airstrikes in southern Gaza.
Some 9,448 Palestinians including 3,900 children have died since Hamas unleashed its terror on Israel on October 7, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
More than 1,400 people were killed in Israel on the day of the bloody massacre and 242 hostages were taken to Gaza.
Hezbollah has been engaged in daily border clashes with Israel since the beginning of the war, with deaths reported on both sides.
The terrorist group has a terrifyingly strong military and political grip on Lebanon – and has already fought a devastating war against Israel in 2006 that claimed 1,200 lives.
It is one of the most heavily-armed, non-state groups in the world and is the most formidable of Iran‘s allies in their self-styled “Axis of Resistance”, with an estimated stockpile of 150,000 rockets and an army of 60,000 highly-trained soldiers.
APThe Lebanon-Israel border has been the site of regular clashes between Israeli forces on one side and Hezbollah and Palestinian armed groups on the other[/caption]