Israeli jets launch ‘pre-emptive’ strikes at Hezbollah in Lebanon as terrorists fire 300 rockets back sparking WW3 fears
ISRAELI jets obliterated hundreds of Hezbollah rocket launchers in “pre-emptive” strikes as the group launched a revenge blitz for the assassination of a senior commander final month.
Hezbollah aimed to fire hundreds of rockets in direction of the north and central Tel Aviv, Israel claims, however was solely in a position to launch a couple of hundred missiles after IDF strikes thwarted its plans.
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An explosion in Lebanon final night time as Israel launched airstrikes at Hezbollah targetsCredit score: Reuters
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A Hezbollah drone is blitzed by Israel’s Iron Dome Defences this morning
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An Israeli fighter jet ejects flares over an space close to the Lebanon-Israel border immediatelyCredit score: EPA
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Hezbollah is Iran’s largest terror proxy military
Israeli Defence Drive (IDF) chiefs ordered the blitz at round 4.30am native time after detecting preparations for an enormous assault from the Lebanon-based terror group.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari mentioned 100 fighter jets struck over 40 launch areas in southern Lebanon in an “act of self-defence”.
Israel has engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with Hamas-allied Hezbollah for 10 months since struggle broke out in the Gaza Strip.
However yesterday’s assaults had been the most important escalation launched by the group since final 12 months’s October 7 assaults from Gaza and despatched tensions skyrocketing in Israel.
It threatens to set off an all-out struggle which might draw in america, Iran and militant teams throughout the area.
Israel estimates the group was in a position to fire solely 250 drones and missiles in direction of the north with “very little” injury after the pre-emptive strikes.
Its Iron Dome and David’s Sling air defences had been reported to have taken out all threats to populated areas and plenty of projectiles landed harmlessly in open floor.
IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani mentioned “This is a part of a larger attack that was planned, and we were able to thwart a big part of it this morning.”
Nevertheless the IDF did later reveal {that a} naval soldier was killed and two others had been injured in fight in northern Israel on Sunday.
Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah swore the operation was solely “phase one” of its grasp plan to avenge the assassination of its commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut final month.
The group is assumed to have been making an attempt to take out Israeli early warnings radar websites alongside the border when Israeli intelligence detected their transfer.
Hundreds of launch tubes pointing in direction of Israel, together with at southern Tel Aviv and the HQ of MI5 equal Mossad, had been destroyed.
Israel warned civilians close to Hezbollah launch websites to hunt shelter as the barrage acquired below method earlier than daybreak.
Terror group commanders are believed to have intentionally sited launchers subsequent to properties to used households as human shields towards air assault.
Some 80,000 Israeli civilians have evacuated the north in the final 10 months, retired IDF normal Amir Avivi informed Sky information.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel’s pre-emptive strikes are “not the end”.
He mentioned: “Three weeks ago we eliminated his chief of staff, and today we foiled his attack plan.
“Nasrallah in Beirut [Hezbollah leader] and Khamenei in Tehran [supreme leader of Iran] ought to know that that is one other step on the trail to altering the state of affairs in the north, and returning our residents safely to their properties.
“And I repeat – this is not the end of the verse.”
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A girl stands in a constructing hit instantly by a rocket fired from Lebanon in a single day, in the northern Israeli metropolis of Acre immediatelyCredit score: Alamy
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Individuals sit close to damaged home windows of a broken residential constructing in AcreCredit score: Reuters
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A constructing hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon in AcreCredit score: Alamy
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Footage shared by the IDF exhibits one among their pre-emptive strikes in LebanonCredit score: Reuters
Hezbollah, Iran’s largest proxy military in the Center East, claimed to have hit 11 Israeli navy targets.
Flights had been axed to and from Israel’s major Ben Gurion airport as the chaos unfolded – though they’ve since resumed.
Daniel Hagari mentioned: “We are ready to do everything we need to defend the people of Israel.”
He later revealed that IDF warplanes “attacked and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah’s firing canisters, most most of them aimed towards the north of the country and some also towards central Israel”.
The Solar warned solely days in the past that Hezbollah was planning to launch an enormous assault on Israel.
Analysts monitoring years of navy exercise in southern Lebanon warned that October 7 might quickly look “like a picnic” if and when the terrorists determined to unleash hell.
Consultants informed The Solar how civilians in Lebanon might find yourself paying the value for a recent struggle in the Center East – simply as tens of hundreds have in Gaza.
The Lebanon well being ministry has mentioned three folks had been killed in the strikes fired from Israel in a single day.
They mentioned one was killed by an “Israeli drone strike on a car in the village of Khiam” and “the Israeli occupation attack on the village of Tiri” killed two.
The Amal group – an ally of Hezbollah – later mentioned a militant from Khiam had been killed.
It was not clear whether or not the opposite two had been civilians or militants.
Some 605 folks have been killed in Lebanon as a results of cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah – with AFP estimating some 131 of them to be civilians.
Israeli officers in the north – together with in the occupied Golan Heights – have mentioned at least 23 troopers and 26 civilians have been killed.
Netanyahu mentioned after the assault: “This morning we recognized Hezbollah preparations to assault Israel.
“In consensus with the Defense Minister and the IDF Chief-of-Staff, we directed the IDF initiate action to eliminate the threat.
“Since then, the IDF has been taking strong action to foil the threats. It has eliminated thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel.
“It is thwarting many other threats and is taking very strong action – both defensively and offensively.
“Citizens of Israel, I request that you adhere to the directives from IDF Home Front Command.
“We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes and to continue upholding a simple rule:
“Whoever harms us – we will harm them.”
UK cabinet minister Pat McFadden told Sky that the UK is “very concerned” by the overnight escalation and that a fresh war in the region is a “real danger”.
“Even as this unfolds, the UK Government and the international community would urge all parties not to escalate further and to avoid a major regional war. That is the real danger facing the area,” he said.
British Airways has suspended all flights between London and Tel Aviv until Wednesday.
Israel said later on Sunday that it had struck more Hezbollah missile launchers in southern Lebanon to “remove threats”.
The United nations said last night’s development is “worrying” and called for a cease fire across the war-torn region.
Recent tensions in the Middle East
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
After almost 10 months of war in Gaza, tensions hit an all new high following a series of deadly strikes and high-profile assassinations by Israel in late July and early August.
On Saturday July 27, a rocket strike fired from southern Lebanon hit a football pitch in Golan Heights – a Druze village occupied by Israel – killing 12 young people including children.
Israel and the US both said Hezbollah, the largest of Iran’s terror proxy groups, operating out of Lebanon, were responsible for the deadly strike.
On Monday July 28, the IDF dropped an airstrike on an area of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, killing Hezbollah’s most senior military commander Fuad Shukr.
Less than two days later, at around 2am on Wednesday July 30, Israel killed Hamas’ top political leader Ismail Haniyeh as he slept in Iran’s capital Tehran.
On the morning of Thursday August 1 morning the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced that a strike on Khan Younis, southern Gaza, had killed Mohammed Deif on July 13.
Dief had worked as head of Hamas’ ruthless military wing, the al-Qassam brigades, since 2002.
It marked another major loss for Iran’s terror proxy groups in the region.
Early reports suggested Ismail Haniyeh was taken out in a precision strike, when a rocket was fired from a drone outside his window and detonated inside the room.
Then an investigation by the New York Times suggested a bomb had been planted in his room at the military-run compound where he was staying and detonated remotely.
Unnamed Iranian officials also shared the explosive theory with The Telegraph, further confusing the murky details around Haniyeh’s death.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), concluded its investigation into the humiliating security breach on Saturday August 1 and said he died after a “short-range projectile” was fired from outdoors the constructing.
Iran and its proxy teams; Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen all vowed to hunt revenge on Israel over the assassination of Haniyeh.
Then, on the night time of Saturday August 3, Hezbollah fired some 30 rockets from Lebanon in direction of Galilee in northern Israel.
Tel Aviv’s spectacular Iron Dome Defence system launched into motion, destroying “most” of the missiles and nobody was harm.
However the UK, US and France have all urged their residents to evacuate from Lebanon as fears of a wider struggle breaking out in the area proceed to spiral.
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Smoke billows from an space focused by an Israeli airstrike between the southern Lebanese border villages of Zibqin and Yater immediately
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Hezbollah fighters coaching in the Lebanese village of Aaramta
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A Hezbollah-launched UAV is destroyedCredit score: AFP
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Smoke rises from the southern Lebanese city of Khiam immediatelyCredit score: Reuters