Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel in revenge for its supreme leader

Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones into Israel early Sunday, while the Israeli military said it bombed Lebanon with about 100 aircraft to thwart a larger attack, in one of the biggest clashes in more than a decade of border warfare.

Rockets could be seen streaking across the dawn sky, dark vapor trails trailing behind them, as air raid sirens wailed in Israel, a distant explosion lit up the horizon and smoke rose above homes in tents in southern Lebanon.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, and Hezbollah indicated that it was not planning to launch more strikes yet, while the Israeli foreign minister said that his country was not seeking a full-scale war.

Any major escalation in the fighting, which began in parallel with the war in Gaza, risks turning into a regional conflagration that would draw in Iran, Hezbollah's backer, and the United States, Israel's main ally.

The strikes on Sunday came as negotiators were meeting in Cairo in a last-ditch effort to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group said it fired 320 Katyusha rockets toward Israel, hitting 11 military targets, in what it called the first phase of its response to Israel's assassination of top commander Fouad Shukr last month.

The Israeli military said it thwarted a much larger attack with preemptive airstrikes after assessing that Hezbollah was preparing to launch attacks, using 100 aircraft to hit more than 40 Hezbollah launch sites in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said the strikes destroyed thousands of rocket launchers, which were mostly targeting northern Israel but also some central areas.

Hezbollah rejected Israel's statement that the group's attack was thwarted by preemptive strikes, saying it had managed to launch its drones as planned and that the rest of its response to Shukr's killing would take “some time.”

The Israeli cabinet met at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT). Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a state of emergency and Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel would respond to developments on the ground but was not seeking all-out war.

Flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv were suspended for about 90 minutes.

“We are determined to do everything in our power to defend our country, to return the residents of the north to their homes safely, and to continue to adhere to a simple rule: whoever touches us, we touch them,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with government ministers in a session of the national emergency committee. Hezbollah said its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah would speak on television later on Sunday.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon and the Office of the UN Special Coordinator in the country called on all parties to cease fire, describing the overnight developments as “worrying.”

Expectations of escalation have been rising since a rocket attack on the occupied Golan Heights last month killed 12 young men, and the Israeli army assassinated Shukr in Beirut in response.

In northern Israel, sirens sounded and multiple explosions were heard in several areas as Israel's Iron Dome air defense system shot down rockets coming from southern Lebanon. Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said it was on high alert throughout the country.

The Israeli military issued instructions to civil defense from central Israel to the north, limiting gatherings but allowing people to go to work as long as they could reach shelters quickly. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Israel, according to the ambulance service.

Israeli media reported that the shelling that hit the northern areas caused damage to some homes and a chicken coop.

A security source in Lebanon said that Israel carried out at least 40 raids on different towns in the south of the country in one of the most violent bombing operations since the fighting began in October.

One of the strikes on the town of Khiyam killed a fighter from the Shiite Amal movement, which is allied to Hezbollah, two security sources told Reuters. Amal later announced his death.

A resident of the southern Lebanese town of Zebqin, seven kilometres (four miles) from the border, told Reuters it was the first time he had woken up “to the sound of planes and loud explosions of missiles – even before dawn prayers. It felt like the end of the world.”

Israel's Army Radio, citing defense officials, said the military assessed that Hezbollah's shelling of northern Israel was “improvised” after a preemptive strike by Israeli aircraft on Hezbollah missile launch sites.

The White House said President Joe Biden is closely monitoring the events.

“At his direction, senior U.S. officials have remained in regular contact with their Israeli counterparts,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savitt said. “We will continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself and continue to work for regional stability.”

Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel immediately after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7. Since then, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire regularly, avoiding any major escalation as the war in Gaza rages to the south.

But this fragile balance appears to have shifted after the strike in the Golan Heights, for which Hezbollah denied responsibility, and the subsequent assassination of Shukr, one of Hezbollah's most senior military leaders.

Shukr's killing in an airstrike was quickly followed by the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, prompting Iran to vow revenge against Israel.