IDF strikes Hezbollah arms depots deep inside Lebanon after drone attack on north

The Israel Defense Forces on Monday afternoon struck what it said were two weapon depots belonging to the Hezbollah terror group near Lebanon’s southern coastal city of Sidon.

The strikes came as a response to a drone attack on northern Israel hours earlier, which caused no damage or injuries.

Lebanese media reported Israeli airstrikes in the town of Ghaziyeh, on the southern outskirts of Sidon, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the northern border.

Footage posted to social media showed large fireballs and clouds of smoke from the targeted sites.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that 14 people in the country were wounded in the strike.

NNA claimed that the strikes targeted a warehouse where tires and electricity generators were manufactured, and the vicinity of a factory, left “14 wounded, most of them Syrian and Palestinian workers.”

In a televised press conference, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the Israeli military was behind airstrikes on two weapon depots near Sidon, and that they came in response to the earlier drone attack.

The IDF said it was still investigating the Monday morning attack, during which an explosive-laden drone struck an open field near the northern town of Arbel.

No warning sirens sounded during the attack.

The IDF blamed Hezbollah for the attack, although the Lebanese terror group did not immediately claim responsibility.

Images posted to social media showed a small crater in the ground in a field outside the Lower Galilee community, as well as what appeared to be part of the suspected bomb-laden projectile.

The suspected drone attack took place some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, far deeper inside Israel than most attacks launched by Hezbollah, which have largely targeted the border region and Upper Galilee.

The IDF said it struck several more Hezbollah positions on Monday afternoon, in southern Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal and Odaisseh.

Earlier, the IDF said it hit Hezbollah sites in Dhayra, rocket-launching positions in Aitaroun, and other Hezbollah infrastructure in Odaisseh.

It also carried out an airstrike on a building in Ayta ash-Shab, where a Hezbollah operative was spotted entering.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed a series of attacks on northern Israel throughout Monday.

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces in Lebanon have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza during the war there. This has led to Israeli retaliations and regular cross-border fire, and has displaced some 80,000 Israelis in border communities.

Israel has warned that it will no longer tolerate the presence of Hezbollah along the Lebanon frontier, where it could attempt to carry out an attack similar to the massacres committed by Hamas on October 7.

It has warned that a failure of international diplomacy to force Hezbollah away from the border will necessitate an Israeli offensive.

So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in six civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 10 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 206 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 32 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 30 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.

Source » timesofisrael.com