An Israeli ship off the coast of Naqoura, in October 2022. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP Archives)
Hezbollah claimed to have carried out a strike just after midnight on Saturday night targeting an "Israeli warship," its first such announcement since the pro-Iranian group fired at an Israeli vessel during the July 2006 war, in the middle of a speech by Hassan Nasrallah.
In a statement, the group claimed an attack against a warship "located 68 nautical miles off the Lebanese coast." An Israeli army source cited by the newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth denied any fire aimed at a warship. This incident "is not recognized," according to the source. In the evening, information from Israel's Channel 14 said that the attack reportedly hit a British ship due to a "misidentification." No information has yet been officially provided by British authorities.
According to the group, the targeted vessel had been preparing to fire on Lebanese territory. The statement did not specify off which region the vessel was located but emphasized that the strike was carried out with a "naval cruise missile." The Israeli army said over the past month it had fired several times from warships, including last Tuesday at Jnah in the south of Beirut.
This is the first time since 2006 that Hezbollah has claimed a naval strike. During the July 2006 war, it had claimed an attack on an Israeli vessel in the middle of a speech by its then-leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in September 2024. The first sentence of Hezbollah's statement on Sunday also refers to that speech: "Now in the open sea, here is the Israeli warship that attacked our infrastructure, homes and civilians — watch it burn."
