The leader of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a statement he gave, explained that the response to Israel was delayed “for various reasons, including the massive mobilization of the Israeli and US military.”
Nasrallah denied that Israel destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers. “The operation was completed as planned, with absolute precision,” he noted.
In fact, he announced that the organization decided not to respond to the assassination of its top commander by targeting civilian areas and not to target Israeli infrastructure.
We reserved the rights to attack civilian targets since the enemy attacked civilians in Lebanon. But we only chose military targets to attack. pic.twitter.com/sadCyxvsSC
— Hassan Nasrallah (@SH_NasrallahEng) August 25, 2024
The Hezbollah leader added: “We sent Katyusha rockets to take out the Iron Dome and drones to enter Israeli airspace. (…) For the first time we sent drones into Israel from the Bekaa region and they entered Israel
“We targeted military facilities near Tel Aviv,” he said, adding that Hezbollah had decided to hit the military intelligence base where an Israeli surveillance unit operates.
The Middle East is boiling: “Rain” of rockets from Israel and Hezbollah
The developments in the Middle East, centered on Northern Israel and Lebanon, are dramatic today.
Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel early Sunday, while the Israeli military said it had struck Lebanon with about 100 warplanes bombing dozens of targets to prevent a larger offensive, in one of the biggest clashes in more than from 10 months of border war.
🇮🇱 According to IDF, 210 rockets and 20 drones were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel in Hezbollah’s attack, – The Times of Israel
❗️Some of the projectiles were intercepted, while others impacted, causing damage and injuries. Many rockets also struck open areas. pic.twitter.com/jvXDMFCie0
— MAKS 24 🇺🇦👀 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) August 25, 2024
Rockets were seen flying into the dawn sky, leaving dark trails of smoke behind them, as air raid sirens sounded in Israel and a distant explosion lit up the horizon, while smoke billowed over houses in Khiam in southern Lebanon.
I just received these from one of my contacts back home in #Lebanonthese are being shared widely over there.
The occupation targeted the north and the south of the country and to the north of the county of Sidon.
Stay strong everyone.#zionistterror #palestinian pic.twitter.com/Ykixo4vhCN
— Taghrid Al-Mawed (@TaghridAlMawed) August 25, 2024
BREAKING: Israeli aircrafts have just bombarded Al-Beqaa Governorate, eastern Lebanon, with multiple missiles.
This is a MAJOR escalation pic.twitter.com/yoTNWr3R8a
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) August 19, 2024
Three deaths were confirmed in Lebanon, while no casualties were reported in Israel, where damage appeared limited. Hezbollah said it was not yet planning further strikes. Israel’s foreign minister said his country does not seek full-scale war.
Any major escalation in the fighting, which began alongside the Gaza war, risks turning into a regional flare-up that could potentially involve both Hezbollah-backing Iran and Israel’s main ally, the United States.
Awaiting Nasrallah’s statement
From now on, all eyes are on what Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will say, who will deliver a speech today at 18:00 local time (and Greek time). Hassan Nasrallah’s speech will cover “the latest developments”, Hezbollah clarified in its statement.
Sunday’s strikes came as negotiators meet in Cairo – in the absence of Hamas – in a last-ditch effort to end the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
The Iranian-backed Lebanese group said it fired 320 Katyusha rockets at Israel and hit 11 military targets in what it called the first phase of retaliation for the killing of Fouad Shukr, a senior commander, last month.
Israel’s military said it had thwarted a much larger attack with preemptive airstrikes after it estimated that Hezbollah was preparing to launch a barrage of rockets and rockets, using 100 warplanes to strike more than 40 Hezbollah launch sites in southern Lebanon.
The strikes destroyed thousands of launchers, which were mainly aimed at northern Israel but also targeted some central areas, the Israeli military said.
Hezbollah rejected Israel’s claim that the group’s attack had been prevented by preemptive strikes, saying it was able to launch its drones as planned and that the rest of its response to Shukr’s killing would take “some time.”
Suspension of air flights
The prospect of an escalation had increased since a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last month killed 12 youths and the Israeli military assassinated Shukr in Beirut in response.
Director of Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv: 50 flights out of 360 international flights canceled today pic.twitter.com/g9sTidUFQN
— Vinay Uteriya (@VinayUteriya11) August 25, 2024
Israel’s security cabinet met at 7 a.m. and the full cabinet meets Sunday afternoon. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a state of emergency and Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel would respond to developments on the ground but was not seeking full-scale war.
“We are determined to do everything possible to defend our country, return the people of the north safely to their homes, and continue to adhere to one simple rule: Whoever harms us, we harm them,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. .
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati met with cabinet ministers at a meeting of the national emergency committee. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will speak on television later Sunday, the organization said.
Flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv were suspended for about 90 minutes.
Some flights to and from Beirut were grounded, stranding passengers. “I just want to get out of here by any means possible,” said Rana Saade, a Lebanese woman who lives in New Jersey.
UN and Lebanese Prime Minister demand a cessation of hostilities
The UN coordinator in Lebanon and the blue-collar workers deployed in the country as well as the Lebanese prime minister called today for a de-escalation between the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah and Israel.
Najib Mikati said he was “in touch with Lebanon’s friends to stop the escalation” after Hezbollah announced it had launched a large-scale offensive against Israel, which launched defensive strikes on Lebanese soil to limit the scope of the attack.
The UN coordinator in Lebanon and the UN Interim Force (Unifil) deployed on the border between Israel and Lebanon called on Hezbollah and Israel to “refrain from any further escalation” and for a “ceasefire”.
The Lebanese prime minister estimated that the most urgent thing is to “stop the Israeli aggression and implement the UN resolution 1701”, which ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
In their joint statement the UN coordinator and Unifil also underlined the need to “return to the cessation of hostilities after the implementation of resolution 1701”.
USA for Israel
The USA stood by Israel once again. A spokesman for the US presidency’s National Security Council announced that Washington “will continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself”, while President Joe Biden instructed his team to communicate “on an ongoing basis” with the Israeli government.
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