Above photo: Images of the destruction following Hezbollah’s retaliatory attack on Sunday in Kiryat Bialik, September 22. Video Screenshot from AFP Youtube Channel.
Hezbollah launched a barrage of at least 115 rockets against Israeli targets.
In retaliation for Israel’s pager and electronics explosion attacks across Lebanon and following the assassination of top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, September 22, Hezbollah launched several barrages of rockets on northern Israeli targets in the Haifa region, including a military airbase.
The Lebanese resistance group said in a statement that the salvo of rockets was an “initial response” to the “monstrous massacre perpetrated by the Israeli enemy across Lebanese territory on Tuesday and Wednesday,” referring to the Israeli pager and electronics explosions last week, which claimed the lives of 32 people and injured over 3,000 others.
The Lebanese response also comes two days after Israel’s bombing of Beirut’s southern Dahiya district on Friday that targeted and killed 15 leaders of the Radwan Force, Hezbollah’s elite military unit trained to invade Israeli territory. Among the slain were top Hezbollah commander and founder of the Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.
Hezbollah announced in a statement that its response targeted the Ramat David military airbase southeast of Haifa with Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets manufactured by the Lebanese resistance group. Earlier in July, Hezbollah had aired aerial footage of the airbase identifying it as a potential target in the event of a wider confrontation with Israel.
In another statement on Sunday, the Lebanese resistance group added that it had also targeted the Rafael company, a military electronics manufacturer north of Haifa. Hezbollah reportedly targeted the company’s manufacturing facilities with Fadi-1, Fadi-2, and Katyusha rockets at 6:30 a.m.
As of the time of writing, the Hezbollah retaliation has amounted to some 115 projectiles that have been launched in four volleys, according to Ynet.
Sirens were heard across northern towns and cities early on Sunday morning. Five Israelis have been reported injured in the north, including three in the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Biyalik, where destruction to residential buildings and the breakout of fires was reported.
The Israeli army announced that schools would be canceled in the north until Monday, while northern Israeli hospitals have been advised to operate according to war protocols and to transport patients to underground facilities.
Ibrahim Aqil, assassinated in Beirut on Friday, was widely considered to be Hezbollah’s third-in-command after Fouad Shukr, who was also assassinated by Israel earlier on July 30.
Israel followed up its assassination of Aqil and members of the Radwan force with 400 Israeli airstrikes on different targets in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported. The attacks on southern Lebanon have continued into Sunday, as the Israeli army continues to pound Hezbollah sites.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis said in a post on X on Sunday that the region was on the brink of “an imminent catastrophe” following recent escalations.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer.” – @UN Special Coordinator for #Lebanon @JeanineHennis. pic.twitter.com/CNXSO4VhTF
— UNSCOL (@UNSCOL) September 22, 2024
The cross-border strikes on Saturday and Sunday represent the largest exchange of fire to take place between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza last year.
Iraqi resistance targets Israeli sites with drones, cruise missiles.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) announced that it launched multiple missiles and drones at targets in Israel early on 22 September, in opposition to the Israeli military’s ongoing war on Palestinians in Gaza.
The movement issued multiple statements Sunday, stating it had attacked northern Israeli targets with Arqab cruise missiles, as well as targets in southern Israel and the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank with drones.
The statement said the attacks were carried out “In continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, in support of our people in Gaza, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women and the elderly.”
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq attacked a target in the Jordan Valley in occupied Palestine with a suicide drone, this morning. pic.twitter.com/IlL50TpNb7
— Iran’s military magazine (@iranmilitary_en) September 22, 2024
“The Islamic Resistance confirms the continuation of operations to target the strongholds of the enemies at an escalating pace,” the statement added.
The Arqab cruise missile is a subsonic, turbojet engine-powered missile. It is rail-launched and uses a rocket booster motor to reach its cruising speed. The IRI has used the missile in several attacks against Israeli targets, including ports and air bases, since the start of the war on Gaza on 7 October.
The Israeli military confirmed early Sunday that it had intercepted “suspicious aerial objects” approaching from Iraq before they entered Israeli airspace.
In addition, Israeli media claimed that Israel’s air defenses intercepted two cruise missiles launched from Iraq toward the southern Golan Heights.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is part of the broader Axis of Resistance, including Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah.
The IRI attacks on Israel coincided with Hezbollah’s large rocket barrage Sunday targeting the Ramat David Airbase southeast of Haifa along with other vital targets.
Lebanon and Hezbollah suffered multiple Israeli terror attacks this week. Israeli intelligence remotely detonated thousands of wireless communication devices on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing 37 people, while injuring and maiming thousands more.
On Friday, Israeli warplanes fired four missiles, destroying two residential buildings in the southern suburb of Beirut and killing at least 39 people, among them three children and seven women. The commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and Head of Operations, Ibrahim Aqil, along with his assistant, commander Ahmad Wehbi, were assassinated in the attack.