Hezbollah fires 140 rockets over northern Israeli border
CBC
Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets Friday, a day after the militant group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, vowed to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, the Israeli military and the militant group said.
Israel's military said the rockets came in three waves Friday afternoon, targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a "targeted strike" in Beirut. It offered no further immediate details, but explosions could be heard coming from the city's southern suburbs.
Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV reported that a drone fired several missiles on the heavily populated area known as Dahiyeh.
Lebanese health authorities reported that at least three people were killed and more than a dozen others wounded in the airstrike.
Hezbollah said its attacks had targeted several sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including multiple air defence bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armoured brigade they said they'd struck for the first time.
The Israeli military said 120 missiles were launched at areas of the Golan Heights, Safed and the Upper Galilee, some of which were intercepted. Fire crews were working to extinguish blazes caused by pieces of debris that fell to the ground in several areas, the military said.
The military did not say whether any missiles had hit targets or caused any casualties.
Another 20 missiles were shot at the areas of Meron and Netua, and most fell in open areas, the military said, adding no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah said the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on villages and homes in southern Lebanon, and not the two days of attacks widely blamed on Israel that set off explosives in thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Israel-Hamas war's opening salvo, but Friday's rocket barrages were heavier than normal.
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Nasrallah on Thursday vowed to keep up daily strikes on Israel despite this week's deadly sabotage of its members' communication devices, which he described as a "severe blow."
At least 20 were killed in the attacks and thousands were wounded when pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday.