Hezbollah fires missile at Tel Aviv after heavy Israeli strikes on Lebanon : NPR

BEIRUT — Hezbollah launched a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv early Wednesday, in an additional escalation after Israel carried out strikes on Lebanon that killed tons of of individuals and the militants fired rockets throughout wider areas of northern Israel.

The Israeli navy mentioned it intercepted the surface-to-surface missile, which set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and throughout central Israel, and there have been no stories of casualties or harm. The navy mentioned it struck the location in southern Lebanon from which the projectile was launched.

Hezbollah mentioned it fired a Qader 1 ballistic missile focusing on the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence company, which it blames for a current string of focused killings of its prime commanders and for an assault final week by which bombs hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens of individuals and wounded 1000’s, together with many Hezbollah members.

The Israeli navy mentioned it was the primary time a projectile fired from Lebanon had reached central Israel. Hezbollah claimed to have focused an intelligence base close to Tel Aviv final month in an aerial assault, however there was no affirmation. The Palestinian Hamas militant group in Gaza repeatedly focused Tel Aviv within the opening months of the battle.

The launch ratcheted up tensions because the area seems to be teetering towards one other all-out battle, at the same time as Israel continues to battle Hamas within the Gaza Strip. A wave of Israeli strikes on Monday and Tuesday killed a minimum of 560 individuals in Lebanon and compelled 1000’s to hunt refuge.

Households have fled southern Lebanon, flocking to Beirut and the coastal metropolis of Sidon, sleeping in colleges was shelters, in addition to in vehicles, parks and alongside the seaside. Some sought to depart the nation, inflicting a visitors jam on the border with Syria.

Israel mentioned late Tuesday that fighter jets carried out “intensive strikes” on Hezbollah weapons and rocket launchers throughout southern Lebanon and within the Bekaa area to the north. The navy has mentioned it has no fast plans for a floor invasion however has declined to provide a timetable for the air marketing campaign.

Tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group have steadily escalated during the last 11 months. Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and its ally Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group.

Israel has responded with more and more heavy airstrikes and the focused killing of Hezbollah commanders whereas threatening a wider operation.

The U.N. Safety Council scheduled an emergency assembly on Lebanon for Wednesday on the request of France.

Almost a yr of combating between Hezbollah and Israel had already displaced tens of 1000’s of individuals on each side of the border earlier than this week’s escalation. Israel has vowed to do no matter it takes to make sure its residents can return to their properties within the north, whereas Hezbollah has mentioned it should sustain its rocket assaults till there’s a cease-fire in Gaza, one thing which seems more and more distant.

Israel has moved 1000’s of troops who had been serving in Gaza to the northern border. It says Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, together with some able to placing wherever in Israel, and that the group has fired some 9,000 rockets and drones since final October.

Cross-border exchanges started ramping up on Sunday within the wake of the pager and walkie-talkie bombings, which killed 39 individuals and wounded almost 3,000, a lot of them civilians. Lebanon blamed Israel, however Israel didn’t verify or deny duty.

On Sunday, Hezbollah launched round 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel.

The following day, Israel mentioned its warplanes struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and assault drones, together with weapons hid in non-public properties. The strikes racked up the very best one-day dying toll in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah fought a bruising monthlong battle in 2006.

An Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Tuesday killed Ibrahim Kobeisi, who Israel described as a prime Hezbollah commander with the group’s rocket and missile unit. Navy officers mentioned Kobeisi was liable for launches in direction of Israel and deliberate a 2000 assault by which three Israeli troopers have been kidnapped and killed. Hezbollah later confirmed his dying.

It was the most recent in a string of assassinations and different setbacks for Hezbollah, which is Lebanon’s strongest political and navy actor and is extensively thought of the highest paramilitary pressure within the Arab world.

Lebanon’s Well being Ministry mentioned six individuals have been killed and 15 have been wounded within the strike in a southern Beirut suburb, an space the place Hezbollah has a powerful presence. The nation’s Nationwide Information Company mentioned the assault destroyed three flooring of a six-story condominium constructing.

The U.N.’s Excessive Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon mentioned considered one of its staffers and her younger son have been amongst these killed Monday within the Bekaa area, whereas a cleaner beneath contract was killed in a strike within the south.

Hezbollah fired 300 rockets on Tuesday, injuring six Israeli troopers and civilians, most of them frivolously, in accordance with the Israeli navy.

The Lebanese Well being Ministry mentioned a minimum of 564 individuals have been killed in Israeli strikes since Monday, together with 50 youngsters and 94 girls, and that greater than 1,800 have been wounded, a staggering toll for a rustic nonetheless reeling from the lethal pager and walkie-talkie bombings final week.