Soon after Israel’s military early Sunday launched what it called “preemptive” strikes in Lebanon against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group carried out its own air attacks.
The Israel Defense Forces said about 100 of its fighter jets “struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels” across dozens of launch sites from Lebanon on Sunday. It followed these up with further attacks later in the day.
Hezbollah said it fired 320 rockets and a barrage of drones toward Israel and said the “first phase” of its strikes against Israel “ended with complete success.”
Israel Defense Forces said about 200 rockets were fired, and as of Sunday night reported no related injuries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military intercepted “all of the drones that Hezbollah launched to a strategic target in the center of the country” without clarify what the target was.
Hezbollah said it carried out strikes towards Israel in response to the killing of top military commander Fu’ad Shukr last month in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a populous neighborhood that is also the Iran-backed group’s stronghold.
