Hezbollah launched over 100 rockets into northern Israel early Sunday, targeting areas wider and deeper than previous attacks, with some landing near Haifa. The assault marks a sharp escalation in the ongoing conflict, with Israel responding by launching hundreds of airstrikes on Lebanon. Both sides appear to be edging closer to all-out war, following months of rising tensions.
The barrage of rockets triggered air raid sirens across northern Israel, forcing thousands of residents to seek shelter, according to the Associated Press (AP). The Israeli military stated that the rockets were fired “toward civilian areas,” suggesting an escalation, as earlier attacks had primarily targeted military sites. One rocket struck near a residential building in Kiryat Bialik, a community near Haifa, injuring at least three people and setting buildings and cars ablaze.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service reported that four people were wounded by shrapnel during the barrage.
Avi Vazana, a resident of Kiryat Bialik, recounted the chaos: “I ran without shoes, without a shirt, only with pants. I ran to this house when everything was still on fire to try to find if there are other people,” as quoted by AP's report.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry confirmed the deaths of two people, with another injured, from Israeli strikes near the border, without further details, the report stated.
The escalation came just days after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed at least 45 people, including Hezbollah’s top leader Ibrahim Akil, as well as women and children. Hezbollah has been under pressure after a previous attack that led to thousands of personal communication devices exploding, causing significant casualties.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a wave of strikes across southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours, hitting about 400 militant targets, including rocket launchers. According to Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, these strikes thwarted a larger attack. “Hundreds of thousands of civilians have come under fire across northern Israel. They spent the night and now the morning in bomb shelters,” he said. “Today we saw fire that was deeper into Israel than before.”
Additionally, the military said it intercepted multiple aerial devices launched from Iraq after Iran-backed militant groups claimed to have initiated a drone attack on Israel, Reuters reported.
Israel’s Health Ministry announced that all hospitals in the north would begin moving operations to protected areas or shelters, as the conflict continued to escalate.
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Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Escalates, United Nations Envoy For Lebanon Urges Restraint
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since the war in Gaza erupted nearly a year ago, with Hezbollah launching rockets in support of Palestinians and its ally, Hamas. The low-intensity skirmishes have resulted in numerous deaths in Israel, hundreds in Lebanon, and the displacement of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
Neither side was believed to be seeking a full-scale war, but with Israel’s recent shift of focus from Gaza to Lebanon, the tensions have significantly increased. Hezbollah has insisted that it will cease its attacks only if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, which remains unlikely.
The war in Gaza began on 7th October when Hamas militants carried out a raid into Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 41,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half of the casualties being women and children.
Families of hostages have expressed concerns that the intensifying conflict in the north could distract from efforts to negotiate their release, as reported by news agency Reuters.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the United Nations envoy for Lebanon, urged all parties to exercise restraint. “With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Israeli media, cited by AP, reported that several rockets from Lebanon on Sunday were intercepted over Haifa and Nazareth, areas farther south than previous strikes. In response, Israel closed schools across the north, amplifying the sense of crisis.
Hezbollah claimed it had fired Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles at the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, marking the deepest strikes the group has conducted since the conflict began, AP reported. The group also said it had targeted facilities of Israel’s Rafael defence firm, though it did not provide evidence to support its claim. The Israeli military declined to comment on these assertions.
On Friday, an Israeli airstrike on a densely populated neighbourhood in Beirut killed Akil, a senior Hezbollah commander who had led the group’s elite Radwan Force, according to Reuters. Akil had been on the U.S. most-wanted list for his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and other high-profile hostage-taking incidents during Lebanon’s civil war. Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that the strike had dismantled Hezbollah’s military chain of command.
Lebanese authorities confirmed that seven women and three children were killed in Friday’s airstrike, with dozens more wounded, in what is reported to be the deadliest strike in Beirut since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The situation remains volatile, with fears of the conflict spiralling into a wider regional war. Reuters also noted that Hezbollah’s targeting of the Israeli Ramat David Airbase signals a significant escalation in the conflict, potentially drawing in other regional actors.
"Escalation in Lebanon means escalation from Iraq," an official in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said, as quoted by Reuters. It is as a grouping of Iran-backed armed factions whose official said they launched cruise missile and explosive drone attacks as part of "a new phase in our support front" with Lebanon.