TEL AVIV. At least 19 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel today, activating sirens in several villages. Hezbollah has claimed the launches: this is the first official claim of the pro-Iranian Shiite movement after five more launches from Lebanon into Israeli territory have taken place since May. On all other occasions, Israel had blamed Palestinian movements active in the South of the Cedar Country.
Most of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system and some fell in uninhabited areas without causing any injuries. According to Israeli military sources quoted by the local press, “the fact that Hezbollah has targeted uninhabited areas indicates that the deterrence is still effective. We have no interest in an escalation ”.
In an official statement, Hezbollah said the attack was in retaliation for Israeli air strikes that took place on the night between Wednesday and Thursday. This was the first attack by Israeli fighters since 2013. The fighters had hit uninhabited areas under the control of Hezbollah in response to the launch of three missiles towards northern Israel the day before.
The Hezbollah communiqué states that the attack was carried out by the “brigades of martyrs Ali Kamel Mohsen and Mohammad Qassem Tahhan”. Mohsen was killed on 20 July 2020 during an Israeli air force attack on Damascus airport that targeted convoys of Iranian weapons headed for Lebanon. Tahhan, on the other hand, was killed in May by Israeli soldiers following a demonstration at the northern border in solidarity with Gaza, after the demonstrators had crossed the border into Israel. Last summer there had already been an attempted retaliation for the killing of Mohsen, with an infiltration of Hezbollah gunmen in the disputed areas of the Sheeba Farms, rejected by the Israeli military.
The events of the past few days on the Israeli-Lebanese border come as tensions are high on the maritime front between Israel and Iran, following the attack on the oil tanker Mercer Street last week, which left two victims of the crew of Romanian and British citizenship. attributed to Tehran by Israel, the United States, England and Romania, which have communicated that they are coordinating for a common reaction. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said yesterday that the air strike in the night was a “signal” aimed at Tehran, claiming that Israel “is militarily ready to attack”. Gantz and Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi are meeting in these moments to “determine the operations of the Israeli defense”.
According to Israeli analysts, Hezbollah has acted to divert attention from the internal criticism to which it is subjected due to the humanitarian crisis in the country, in particular two days after the massive demonstrations in commemoration of the explosion at the port of Beirut on 4 August 2020, which also echoed the slogan “Iran out of Lebanon”.
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