Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at a kibbutz in northern Israel after two days without attacks

The Islamist group claims to have fired anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli fighter planes flying over southern Lebanon

Aug. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Lebanese Shiite party-militia Hezbollah has launched dozens of Katyusha rockets at the kibbutz of Matzuva, located in the western Galilee region in northern Israel, after two days without carrying out attacks as a result of mourning for the death of the military chief and number two of the Islamist group, Fuad Sukr, in an Israeli bombing of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

“We fired dozens of Katyusha rockets at the Zionist settlement of Matzuva in response to the Israeli attack on the town of Shama and the martyrdom of several civilians there,” reads a Hezbollah statement shared by the Lebanese television channel Al Manar, which is close to the group.

The party-militia has also claimed that anti-aircraft missiles were fired at Israeli army fighter planes flying over southern Lebanon, “forcing them to retreat” towards Israeli territory.

For its part, the Israeli Army has confirmed on its social network X account the activation of air alerts in the aforementioned region after detecting “numerous launches that have crossed from Lebanon”, and has reported that it has managed to intercept some of them, while the rest have not caused casualties.

“Air Force fighter jets have attacked a launch pad of the Hezbollah terrorist organization from which launches were detected from the Yatar area in southern Lebanon. Shortly before, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired artillery to eliminate a threat in the Ramish and Ramia areas in southern Lebanon,” the IDF added.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric’s spokesman called during a press conference to stop the “cycle” of “counterattacks, attacks, counterattacks, attacks” and return to political negotiations on the region.

“We need political leaders to find the courage to return to talks and ensure that the suffering of Gaza’s civilians, of the prisoners, of the Israeli hostages in Gaza who have been held there for 300 days and who we want to be released immediately, is stopped. We want humanitarian aid to reach the civilians of Gaza. We want to see the lives of Lebanese and Israelis, which have been disrupted and attacked on both sides of the Blue Line,” he added.

The Israeli army and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and has significant political clout in Lebanon, have been engaged in a series of clashes since October 8, a day after the attacks carried out by Hamas, which left nearly 1,200 dead and some 240 kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities.