UPDATE 2 – Hezbollah says it targeted military sites in central, northern Israel

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Wassim Seifeddin

BEIRUT (AA) - The Lebanese group Hezbollah said Wednesday it carried out several drone and missile attacks targeting Israeli military sites and command headquarters in central and northern Israel.

In a statement, Hezbollah said it targeted with a missile the Dado base, the headquarters of the Israeli army’s Northern Command, northeast of the city of Safed in northern Israel.

The group said its fighters also targeted the Giv’a drone control base east of Safed with a precision-guided missile.

A swarm of attack drones also hit the headquarters of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in central Israel, it added.

The group said missile and drone attacks also targeted the Tel Hashomer base in Tel Aviv, the Iron Dome radars at the Kiryat Eliezer site in northern Israel, and the Ein Shemer missile defense base east of Hadera in north-central Israel.

Hezbollah also claimed drone attacks on the Haifa naval base and Ramat David Air Base in northern Israel.

Earlier Wednesday, the Lebanese group said it targeted a gathering of Israeli army forces at the Metula site in northern Israel with a rocket barrage. It also claimed attacks on a Merkava tank and an armored personnel carrier in the village of Houla in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said the attacks came “in response to the criminal Israeli aggression that targeted dozens of Lebanese cities and towns, including Beirut’s southern suburbs.”

The Israeli army, for its part, confirmed that sirens had sounded in northern Israel after launches from Lebanon.

A military statement claimed that the majority of the launches were intercepted by air defenses.

The situation escalated in Lebanon on Monday after Hezbollah targeted a military site in northern Israel with rockets and drones in response to ongoing Israeli airstrikes and the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in ongoing US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

The Israeli army launched a series of airstrikes in response, killing at least 72 people and injuring nearly 450 others. The military also launched a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

Israel imposes strict censorship on reporting casualties caused by missiles launched by Iran and Hezbollah or intercepted by its defenses and also prohibits the circulation of related footage.

Israel has killed more than 4,000 people and wounded about 17,000 others during its assault on Lebanon that began in October 2023 and expanded into a full-scale war in September 2024.

*Writing by Lina Altawell and Rania Abushamala in Istanbul