Within an hour, 150 rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, the Israeli army reacted

JERUSALEM

According to Israeli Army Radio, at least 150 rockets were fired from Lebanon at military sites and settlements in northern Israel within an hour on Friday.

It was reported that “about 130 rockets were fired at Galilee and the Golan Heights in two separate waves.”

Army radio later added that about 20 more rockets were fired toward the Meron region in the north, with most hitting open areas.

This marked a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the Lebanese Hezbollah group and Israel, which has seen intense cross-border clashes across the region.

In response, Israeli artillery began shelling several areas in southern Lebanon, the Israel Broadcasting Authority reported.

In addition, according to local media reports, an illegal Israeli settler was injured in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, while fires broke out near the city of Safed due to rocket attacks from Lebanon.

Channel 12 reported that rocket fire caused fires in areas near Safed in northern Israel, while an Israeli settler was injured when his vehicle was hit by rocket fragments in the Golan Heights.

Minutes earlier, the station had reported that sirens had sounded in the Golan Heights.

Hezbollah, for its part, said it fired Katyusha rockets at the Al-Aliqa barracks, which houses the headquarters of Israel's 188th Armored Brigade, as well as at air defense bases in the Biriya and Kila barracks in northern Israel.

The Israeli army urged residents of several settlements in the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights to stay near protected areas.

Previously, Israeli Army Radio confirmed that the Israeli Air Force had launched a new wave of air strikes and artillery bombardments on several locations in southern Lebanon.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have escalated in recent days following a wave of explosions on Wednesday that damaged ICOM wireless equipment across Lebanon, leaving 25 people dead and 450 injured.

The explosions followed similar detonations on Tuesday that also hit pager devices. They claimed 12 lives, including two children. Another 2,800 were injured, 300 of whom are in critical condition.

The Lebanese government and Hezbollah blamed Israel for the bomb explosions and threatened “serious consequences.”

There was no comment from Israel on the explosions, which came amid an escalation in the border war between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel's deadly war in the Gaza Strip. The attack by the Palestinian Hamas on October 7 last year killed nearly 41,300 people, most of them women and children.

* Written by Mohammad Sio

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