Hezbollah fires 35-rocket barrage at Kiryat Shmona, attacks northern Israel after mysterious overnight strike in Lebanon

No official Israeli comment amid rampant speculation regarding target of strike

Read this article in:

The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah resumed its intense attacks against northern Israel with the first light on Friday morning, claiming part of the launches were a response to an overnight strike in Lebanon that allegedly killed civilians.

Late on Thursday evening, a strike hit a building in the Lebanese town of Jannata, near the city of Tyre and some 20 km (12 miles) north of the Israeli border.

According to Army Radio, the target of the Israeli strike was a Hezbollah headquarters. Unlike in previous instances, the Israeli army so far hasn't taken responsibility for the strike or provided details about the target.

The Lebanese newspaper L’Orient Today reported that a member of the Hezbollah security committee at the scene said the building belonged to Hezbollah but that it wasn’t a military building, without giving further details.

However, Arab media immediately began speculating that a high-ranking Hezbollah member was killed in the strike. The target is near the hometown of Hashim Safi al-Din, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, who is seen as a possible successor for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Lebanese media citing Hezbollah sources reported two women killed and 19 people wounded, including two in critical condition. Hezbollah operatives closed off the scene and Hezbollah-affiliated press outlets called on the civilians to keep away from the site of the strike.

One of the killed women was identified as a paramedic with a group affiliated with the Amal movement, which, in turn, is allied with Hezbollah.

“There was only one strike, and it was an Israeli warplane strike, not a drone strike. A single missile,” an unnamed Hezbollah member told L’Orient Today.

Early on Friday morning, Hezbollah resumed attacking Israeli targets, following some of the most intense days of battle over the last three days.

Alarm sirens were sounded in the Galilee panhandle around 6:30 a.m., with more alarms following in Kiryat Shmona 30 minutes later. Shortly after, two anti-tank missiles exploded in open areas near Kibbutz Avivim.

Around 9 a.m., at least five anti-tank missiles struck two homes and an old bus used as a residence in Israel’s northernmost town of Metula, causing a raging fire.

המטח למטולה: שישה טילי נ"ט שוגרו ושני בתים נפגעו. אוטובוס ישן ששימש למגורים עלה באש, והתפשטה שריפה במרחב שלו@rubih67 pic.twitter.com/SxKw6eyYjP
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 14, 2024

A few hours later, a barrage of some 35 rockets was launched at Kiryat Shmona and surrounding villages, with at least one rocket striking a building in the town and causing damage.

Footage on social media showed several rockets being intercepted in the skies above the city. As of around noon, there were no reports of injuries.

קרית שמונה כעת pic.twitter.com/XTOfx2N4Oy
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) June 14, 2024

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for six separate attacks on Friday, saying it had fired Katyusha and Falaq rockets at Kiryat Shmona in retaliation for the deaths of civilians in Janata the night before.

After Hezbollah escalated its attacks in recent days, Israel killed Taleb Abdallah on Wednesday, marking the death of the most senior Hezbollah commander since Oct. 8.

On Friday, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, called the Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon “destructive and terrorist aggressions which the international community must put an end to.”