Hezbollah says fired ‘dozens’ of rockets at northern Israel
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Hezbollah said it launched “dozens of Katyusha rockets“ at northern Israel on Aug 1.
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BEIRUT – Hezbollah said it launched rockets at northern Israel on Aug 1 “in response” to a deadly Israeli strike in south Lebanon – the group’s first attack after Israel killed a top commander earlier this week.
The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it “launched dozens of Katyusha rockets... in response to the Israeli enemy’s attack on... (the southern village of Shama) that killed a number of civilians”.
The Israeli military said that shortly after the rocket fire, the air force “struck the Hezbollah launcher from which the projectiles were launched”.
Earlier on Aug 1, the Lebanese Health Ministry said four Syrians were killed in an Israeli strike on the south, where Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire since the Gaza war began in October.
“The Health Ministry announces... four Syrian nationals were martyred” in an Israeli strike on the southern village of Shama, it said in a statement.
The ministry said the toll might rise once DNA tests had been carried out.
The strike also wounded five Lebanese nationals, it added.
Emergency services told AFP that the dead were farm workers and part of the same family.
Plumes of smoke billowed from the site of the strike, which heavily damaged two nearby buildings and burned a vehicle to a crisp, a photographer contributing to AFP reported.
The attack was Hezbollah’s first since an Israeli air strike killed its top commander
Mr Nasrallah warned his group was bound to respond to the killing of Shukr.
His death was followed, hours later on July 31, by the killing of Hezbollah ally Hamas’ chief Ismail Haniyeh in a strike in Tehran,
The violence since October has killed at least 542 people on the Lebanese side, most of them fighters but also including 114 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
At least 22 soldiers and 25 civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, according to army figures. AFP
