Hezbollah fires more than 200 missiles at Israeli targets following killing of commander
By Sophie Tanno, Mick Krever, Charbel Mallo, Tamer Michaelis and Mike Schwartz, CNN
(CNN) — Hezbollah said that it fired more than 200 missiles at Israeli military sites in retaliation for the killing of one of its senior commanders in southern Lebanon.
Muhammed Neamah Naser, a commander in Hezbollah’s Aziz Unit, was “eliminated” on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, blaming him for directing terror attacks both before and after Hamas’ October 7 attacks from Gaza
The IDF described him as a counterpart of Sami Taleb Abdullah, another Hezbollah commander whose killing last month also triggered a wave of retaliatory strikes.
“Together, they served as two of the most significant Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon,” the IDF said.
In response to the killing, Hezbollah on Thursday said it had launched “more than 200 missiles of various types” at Israeli targets.
The Israeli military said that it intercepted some of those Hezbollah missiles, as well as drones. Some fires broke out as a result of falling shrapnel.
In response to those strikes, the IDF said their fighter jets have struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight Wednesday into Thursday. The IDF said they struck a military structure and three “terrorist infrastructure sites.” Hezbollah said Thursday that one of its fighters had been killed.
Naser is the latest Hezbollah commander to be killed in hostilities that flared along the Israel-Lebanon border since the October 7 attacks.
Israeli fire services said Thursday that they are working on multiple “extensive fires” in the north of the country “as a result of the heavy shelling from Lebanon.”
More than 10 fires broke out in the area of the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights, the Israel Fire and Rescue North District said in a statement, “with some of them creating very extensive fires in challenging terrain.”
Over 40 firefighting teams and 10 aircraft were working in the region on five major incidents, the statement said.
Cross-border fire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has been an almost daily occurrence since the war in Gaza began. But it has been gradually intensifying, raising fears it could escalate into a full-blown conflict.
Hezbollah is one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, boasting of tens of thousands of fighters and a vast missile arsenal. The group has said its current round of fighting with Israel is to support Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 300 Hezbollah fighters and some 90 civilians, according to Reuters tallies. Meanwhile, Israel says fire from Lebanon has killed 18 soldiers and 10 civilians.
Eugenia Yosef contributed to this report.
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