Two IDF soldiers wounded by Hezbollah rocket fire, four drones penetrate Israeli airspace

As the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah continued its attacks against Israel over the weekend, two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded by rocket explosions in the city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday evening, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Army Radio reported that the soldiers were wounded amid a barrage of five rockets that hit Kiryat Shmona, several of which exploded in the city and caused damage to buildings.

The soldiers were taken to a hospital and no further casualties were reported, however, one impact ignited a fire in the area. Two more rockets struck near the town of Shlomi.

The attacks continued on Saturday morning when a Hezbollah drone was intercepted above Kiryat Shmona, before two more penetrated air defenses and exploded near Beit Hillel. Shortly after, another drone was shot down over Kiryat Shmona.

After Hezbollah fired a massive barrage of some 200 rockets and 20 drones at Israel on Thursday, the army said that one IDF officer was killed, and several other soldiers were wounded from rocket impacts.

At least 25 Israelis have been killed in the ongoing fighting in northern Israel so far, including 15 IDF soldiers and 10 civilians.

At the time of publication, the IDF hadn’t announced any retaliatory airstrikes in Lebanon since Friday evening, after the Israeli military has been carrying out multiple waves of strikes every day for the past months.

On Friday afternoon, the IDF stated it had destroyed a Hezbollah surface-to-air missile launcher in the Reihan area that had been attacking Israeli aircraft, and struck a terrorist who was spotted entering a military structure near the area of Markaba.

מוקדם יותר היום זוהה מחבל נכנס למבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב מרכבא. זמן קצר לאחר הזיהוי, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר בשיתוף פיקוד הצפון תקפו את המבנה ובו המחבל.

בנוסף, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו במרחב ריחן משגר טילי קרקע אוויר אשר שימש לשיגורים לעבר כלי טיס ישראליים>> pic.twitter.com/AHqktGYpyA

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 5, 2024

Later, IDF fighter jets bombed a launch site near Marwahin and an observation post near Houla while shelling the launch areas used in the attacks against Kiryat Shmona with artillery.

During the night, the IDF said fighter jets and other aircraft attacked several Hezbollah targets, including a military structure in the Kfar Kila area, a group of terrorists spotted near Bint Jbeil and Hezbollah infrastructure in Yarin and Bint Jbeil.

Following the overnight attacks, the IDF didn’t announce any further strikes in Lebanon on Saturday, piquing the curiosity of several Israeli journalists.

Walla News military correspondent Amir Bohbot wrote in the late afternoon: “IDF Spokesman confirms that from last night until these minutes the IDF did not carry out attacks in southern Lebanon. What’s going on here? Change of direction?”

Two hours later, Bohbot cited - at the time, unconfirmed - Lebanese reports of an alleged Israeli strike on a car that killed a person in the area of Baalbek, deep inside Lebanese territory, indicating a possible resumption of Israel’s strikes against the Hezbollah terrorists after almost 24 hours.