Hezbollah bombards northern Israel with rockets following the IDF’s elimination of a senior commander. Israel braces for potential escalation amid ongoing conflict.
Jerusalem (Bollywood Fever): On Wednesday, the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group launched rockets at Israel’s northern border, including Tiberias, following the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) elimination of a senior Hezbollah commander involved in military operations.
The IDF stated, “IDF struck a Hezbollah command and control center used to direct attacks from southeastern Lebanon and eliminated its commander, Sami Taleb Abdullah.”
Hezbollah’s aerial warfare unit unleashed over 200 rockets into northern Israeli communities. The IDF reported no injuries.
On Tuesday, the IDF disclosed, “A Hezbollah command and control center in the area of Jouaiyya in Southern Lebanon, which was used to direct terror attacks against Israeli territory from southeastern Lebanon in recent months, was struck by the IAF. As part of the strike, Sami Taleb Abdullah, the commander of the Nasr Unit in the Hezbollah terrorist organization, was eliminated. Sami Taleb Abdullah was one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders in southern Lebanon.”
The IDF further noted, “For many years, the terrorist planned, advanced, and carried out a large number of terror attacks against Israeli civilians. Three additional Hezbollah terrorist operatives were also eliminated in the strike.”
Since October 7, up to 80,000 Israelis have fled northern border areas as Iran-backed Hezbollah has intensified its attacks on Israel.
“The front has certainly been heating up, and Hezbollah chief Nasrallah has dismissed any chance of stopping until Israel agrees to a Gaza ceasefire, thus trying to establish his militia as part of the Israel-Palestinian scene, something that Israel doesn’t want to see happen,” said Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at FDD.
“Israel wants to get done with the northern front, independent of Gaza, with a deadline being September (start of the school year) for Israeli refugees to be able to return home. This will require a major escalation, which is currently underway. A full-scale war seems to be close, perhaps as soon as the end of this month,” warned the Lebanon expert.
Hezbollah initiated its aerial assaults on Israel shortly after the Gaza-based Hamas group invaded Israel on October 7, massacring nearly 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans.
Following Hezbollah’s rocket attacks last week that caused fires in northern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Jewish state is “prepared for very intense action in the north” in response to the continued attacks.
Speaking from an Israeli military base in Kiryat Shmona, Netanyahu declared, “We said, at the start of the war, that we would restore security in both the south and the north – and this is what we are doing. Today I am on the northern border with our heroic fighters and commanders, as well as with our firefighters. Yesterday the ground burned here, and I am pleased that you have extinguished it, but ground also burned in Lebanon.”
“Israel, from the very beginning, said first Gaza and then deal with the north,” Brig. Gen. (Res) Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division, told Fox News Digital last week.
“In the coming weeks, the main missions in Rafah will end. Most of the troops will be sent north and there will be a threat to Hezbollah, calling them to retreat, according to U.N. resolution 1701, and if they don’t retreat, and if there is no American leadership threatening Hezbollah or Iran, and no international pressure, Israel will have to attack and do a ground incursion into south Lebanon while destroying most of Hezbollah’s long-range capabilities,” he said.
According to Avivi, the United Nations Security Council has failed to enforce resolution 1701, intended to disarm Hezbollah following the end of its 2006 conflict with Israel.
Reverend Johnnie Moore, president of The Congress of Christian Leaders, highlighted the impact of Hezbollah’s attacks on areas significant to Christians, writing on X, “Hezbollah is firing hundreds of rockets into the Christian heartland of N. Israel … in the idyllic hills around Galilee….where Jesus lived, where most of his ministry took place, near to where the Sermon on the Mount was preached…where millions of Christians visit today.”
Israeli news outlet Ynet reported on Wednesday that the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar commented on Abdullah’s elimination, stating, “The enemy dealt a severe blow to Hezbollah in a security-military operation targeting one of the prominent commanders in the current confrontation, accompanied by additional fighters during an Israeli drone strike on a house in the village of Jouaiyya.”
The IDF announced on Monday that over 19,000 unguided rockets have been launched at Israel since October 7. While most rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip, a significant number have come from Hezbollah. The U.S. and many other countries have designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
Also Read,Beloved California Food Critics Allan Borgen and Isabelle Busse Killed in Tragic Car Accident
U.S. Expands Sanctions on Russia, Targets Chinese Companies Ahead of G7 Summit
