Residents of the city of Nahariytya in the north of the occupied territories said that the attacks left buildings shaking and at least three massive explosions occurred, unprecedented in the past few years. Israeli sources said that most of the rockets fired from Lebanon were Grad and Katyusha.
Israeli media said that the Iron Dome air defense engaged new targets in Galilee sky and the sirens sounded nonstop in the towns of Shlomi and Betzet on the border with Lebanon. Immediately, the shelters were opened and settlers fled to safely there. Israeli sources announced that this volume of rocket attacks was unprecedented since the Lebanon 33-Day War in 2006, and given the number of rockets, they talked about possibility of a new war with Lebanon. Israeli media say that three settlers have been injured in these missile attacks. After this incident, medical teams were put on high alert.
Israeli army spokesman claimed that from 34 rockets from Lebanon, 25 were intercepted and at least 5 struck their targets in the occupied territories. But images showed that a major number of the rockets successfully hit their targets and the much-vaunted air defense system only intercepted a few of them.
Israeli claim comes while Tel Aviv always strictly censors the amount of material and human casualties and prevents publishing accurate statistics of casualties. Iron Dome, which the Israelis boast of its high capability, has already shown its inefficiency in the Gaza wars, mainly the 11-day war in June 2021 and was only able to intercept 30 percent of the rockets of the Palestinian resistance.
On the rocket attacks from Lebanon, Netanyahu’s cabinet held a security meeting to decide a response. On the other hand, the Lebanon’s foreign ministry, while asking the international community to put pressure on Tel Aviv to avoid any tensions, announced its readiness to cooperate with the UNIFIL peacekeeping forces stationed in the south of its territory. The foreign ministry reiterated it adherence to Security Council Resolution 1701, adding that it seeks peace and stability in the south.
The rocket attacks on the occupied territories followed Israeli storming of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque that left hundreds of Palestinians injured and arrested and the Muslim world incensed. The Israelis who are these days arranging for the Passover, a week-long Jewish holiday, are acting violently against the Palestinians. But their crimes cannot bring good for Tel Aviv at the end of the road.
Hezbollah hands not tied
Although Hezbollah officially rejected responsibility for the rockets, it is clear that any attack on Israel from Lebanon does not happen without its coordination. In this connection, after the rocket attacks, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashim Safi Al Din, warned against the repeated aggression by the Israeli forces on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and said that any desecration of the Islamic holy places and the regime’s attempt to target the Al-Aqsa Mosque will spark a regional war. The Hezbollah official emphasized that the Israelis should know that Al-Aqsa Mosque is not alone and that millions of Muslims are ready to sacrifice their lives for this holy site.
Hezbollah officials have repeatedly warned about Israeli military movements, saying that it should avoid war. Hezbollah showed off its power to Tel Aviv in the 2006 war, making the Israeli leaders calculate well before thinking about waging war. Now Hezbollah is much more powerful than two decades ago and has achieved massive achievements in the military field, and in case of a possible conflict, it can make the Israeli enemy regret. Although the resistance movement was present in the Syrian war, it has not entered into a direct conflict in the region since 2006, and during this time it strengthened its missile and drone power.
Earlier, in admission of Hezbollah military power, Israeli media had said that Hezbollah had around 2,000 drones. Also, the movement, they said, had hundreds of quadcopters some of which used for reconnaissance and even offensive missions. The infiltration of the ‘Hassan’ drone into Israeli airspace and its safe return indicates the new problems facing the Israeli army and represent a serious warning to the enemy not to underestimate the opposite side.
Also, two years ago, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah unveiled new weapons, revealing for the first time that the movement procured “pinpoint missiles” that can strike anywhere in the Israeli regime. Hezbollah has now not only tipped the scales of power with Tel Aviv in its favor, but also with its military capabilities, it has imposed on the occupied territories a balance of terror.
In the dispute over gas production from shared Karish gas field with the Israeli regime, Hezbollah chief secured Lebanon’s rights by forcing an Israeli retreat. Israeli media admitted the movement’s power and called the retreat a humiliating defeat. Tel Aviv security officials have repeatedly admitted that in the event of a new conflict with Hezbollah, hundreds of rockets will be fired from Lebanon to the occupied territories every day. Hezbollah officials have proven that, unlike Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, they do not just issue warnings and are men of action and will fulfill their honest promises if the need arises.
Tensions not in Netanyahu’s favor
Although in reaction to the rockets Israeli officials said they would respond and shelled a Lebanese border town in the south, this desperate response was not left unanswered and another rocket attack was carried out from southern Lebanon to warn that mortar shells will be faced by rockets.
Although Netanyahu once again claimed in response to the missile attacks from Lebanon that no internal dispute will prevent them from “responding decisively to our enemies”, in such a situation, he cannot do much. He launched airstrikes overnight in Gaza as he blamed Hamas for the attacks but did not dare wage a full-scale war. When there was a united and obedient army in the occupied territories, Netanyahu, contrary to his claims, did not dare to fire on Lebanon, and now that the occupied territories are facing nationwide protests and the army commanders are rebelling against the hard-line cabinet, the situation will be more difficult for the Netanyahu government in case of a war. Therefore, any adventure in Lebanon is playing with fire, which can bring the Israeli regime another step closer to collapse.
On the other hand, the start of the war between Tel Aviv and Hezbollah will not be limited to the Lebanon borders, and this time all the resistance wings in the region will unite against the aggressors, and the occupied territories will be targeted by the resistance groups from all sides. Since the western countries are not happy with Tel Aviv hardliners’ approach, it will not be in the interest of the Netanyahu government to enter into a confrontation with the Axis of Resistance.
The significance of the rocket strikes on Israel is not for the casualties, and psychological impacts on the Israeli officials are way more important than the military objectives. Actually, the attacks proved that Tel Aviv officials can no longer protect security of the settlers. The most important repercussions are fleeing of foreign capital and reverse migration from the occupied territories, something accelerating Israel’s collapse and whose harbingers have been emerging in recent months.
The rockets fired from Lebanon were just a warm-up with impacts incomparable to the pinpoint ballistic missiles Hezbollah has thousands of them in its arsenal and represented a warning to radicals in the Israeli government that continuation of crimes in Al-Aqsa Mosque and adventures in Syria can bring grave consequences to Tel Aviv and, as resistance leaders warn, can spark a war in the region./129