Smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment of a southern Lebanese area on September 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
After setting fire to a valley on the outskirts of Froun in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army claimed responsibility for attacks from Friday night to Saturday aimed at destroying "about 15 rocket launchers." Hezbollah retaliated this morning with “a salvo of Katyusha rockets” aimed at a military base in northern Israel.
On Friday evening, between 9.30 p.m. and 10 p.m., around 15 missiles were fired on the outskirts of Froun, a town in the northern Bint Jbeil district, according to local correspondent Mountasser Abdallah. These successive strikes primarily targeted valleys and wooded areas in the region, marking the first Israeli fire on this area since the opening of the southern Lebanon front nearly eleven months ago.
Following these strikes, which caused fires but no casualties, the Israeli army announced in a message on X through its Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee that the attacks aimed at "more than 15 Hezbollah rocket launchers and military buildings." Some of the missiles, according to the party, were prepared to be fired towards Israel.
Retaliation against Mount Neria
After a quiet night on the southern front, Hezbollah said it had retaliated for the strikes on Froun by firing “a salvo of Katyusha rockets at the Mount Neria base,” which currently hosts “the Golani Brigade Forces”. Mount Neria is located a few kilometers east of Mount Meron, which houses Israel's northern air surveillance center and is regularly targeted by Hezbollah in response to targeted Israeli strikes. This is the fourth time that Mount Neria has been targeted by the party, with all attacks on this base occurring since late July, each time in retaliation for Israeli strikes that resulted in the death of fighters.
The Golani Brigade, known for the elite status of its fighters according to the Israeli military's website, has a storied history, participating in several conflicts since its establishment in 1948. These include Operation Litani in southern Lebanon in March 1978, the 1982 operation during which one of its battalions captured the Beaufort Fortress from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Beirut siege in 1982 and the war with Hezbollah in July 2006.
Following Hezbollah's retaliation, the Israeli army said that “around 30 shells fired from Lebanon landed on deserted land without causing any casualties”, and that alarm sirens sounded shortly after 6 a.m. “in the Mattat area”. Mattat is located approximately twelve kilometers east of Mount Neria.
Following a morning of relative calm along the Blue Line, hostilities resumed in the early afternoon. The Israeli air force targeted several areas, including the outskirts of Kounine, Bint Jbeil district, and Qabrikha, Marjayoun district. It was in the latter village that a woman was killed during the week by a bombing. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for another artillery strike against the Israeli site of Hadab Yaroun.
Stay close to shelters
On the other side of the border, the Israeli army reported eight rockets fired from Lebanon in the afternoon. According to local officials in Shlomi, northern Israel, one of the projectiles hit a building, but caused no casualties.
Residents near the border in northern Israel were urged to stay close to air-raid shelters and avoid large gatherings, according to Haaretz. The Regional Council of Upper Galilee, Israel's northern region, issued the call “due to heightened fears of rocket and drone fire from Lebanon," according to the media outlet.
As of tomorrow, Sunday, the tensions between Hezbollah and the Israeli military will have been ongoing for twelve months, resulting in 601 deaths in Lebanon, comprising mainly of Hezbollah fighters and other factions, but also civilians, rescue workers and journalists. Sheikh Nabik Kaouk, a member of Hezbollah's central council, claimed in a ceremony in Bir Hassan, southern Beirut, that the "axis of resistance," which includes Hezbollah, the Palestinian Hamas movement, the Yemeni Houthis and pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, “is becoming more and more powerful, in strength, in numbers, on the offense and in defense, both militarily and politically." He asserted that Israel is "in a phase of retreat" and has no other choice but “to stop its aggression in Gaza," to allow the return of its displaced population from the North. The Hezbollah-linked front supporting Gaza has linked any cease-fire along the Blue Line to a cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave since Oct. 8, 2023.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.