On Wednesday (June 12), Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched the highest daily number of rockets towards Israel since the cross-border hostilities erupted eight months ago, as part of its retaliation for Israel’s recent killing of a senior Hezbollah field commander.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war last October, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in continuous clashes, escalating concerns about a larger-scale confrontation between these two fully armed adversaries.
According to Reuters, three reliable sources from Israel and Lebanon reported that late Tuesday, the Israeli military attacked the village of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon, killing three Hezbollah fighters and senior field commander Taleb Abdallah, also known as Abu Taleb.
One source mentioned that the commander was the highest-ranking Hezbollah commander to be killed during the eight months of hostilities.
The Israeli military confirmed that they killed the commander and three other Hezbollah fighters in an attack on a command and control center.
A security official mentioned that these four Hezbollah members were likely targeted during a meeting.
Lebanese sources stated that the commander was in charge of the central region of southern border areas for Hezbollah. An anonymous Lebanese source added that Abdallah, the slain commander, was the superior of Wissam Tawil, a senior Hezbollah commander killed by Israel in January in an attack.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, in a statement, referred to Abdallah as a great leader and expressed mourning for his death.
Hezbollah claimed that on Wednesday they carried out at least 17 operations against Israel, including eight “assassination attempts” targeting Israel in Jouaiyya.
In one operation, Hezbollah fired precision-guided missiles at an Israeli military factory. In another attack, Hezbollah claimed strikes on Israeli military headquarters in Ein Zeitim and Ami’ad, as well as Israel’s military aerial reconnaissance station in Meron.
A security official stated that the organization launched approximately 250 rockets at Israel throughout Wednesday, marking the highest number of rockets fired in a single day since the conflict began in October last year, with over 100 rockets fired at once.
Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah official, declared during Abdallah’s funeral in the southern suburbs of Beirut that Hezbollah would intensify its actions against Israel in terms of strength and quantity to avenge Abdallah.
Safieddine stated, “If the enemy is crying out in pain over its encounters in northern Palestine, then let them prepare to weep and wail.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military announced that Hezbollah launched around 50 rockets from southern Lebanon towards the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
In a subsequent statement, Israel said that approximately 90 rockets were launched from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others landing in several areas in northern Israel, causing fires in some regions.
It is not clear from Israel’s statement whether it refers to one launch by Hezbollah or two.
The Israeli military said that following Hezbollah’s rocket fire towards northern Israel, Israeli warplanes hit multiple launch sites in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
Israel stated that its fighter jets struck Hezbollah’s launch sites in two areas in southern Lebanon and shelled a third location.
The Israeli military mentioned that they had killed over 320 Hezbollah members, with at least 100 targeted based on “precise, high-quality intelligence” collected by Israeli field operatives. There were no casualties on the Israeli side, with firefighters working to extinguish fires sparked by Hezbollah attacks in multiple areas.
According to Reuters estimates, about 300 Hezbollah fighters have died in Israeli attacks, a higher number than the casualties from the last major conflict between the two sides in 2006, with around 80 civilians also reported dead.