Israel’s President Isaac Herzog declared Sunday morning that the “decisive” preemptive action taken by the IDF against a planned Hezbollah attack in the early hours of the day “epitomizes Israel’s right and duty to defend itself and its citizens against the threat of terrorism.”
At around 5 am, around 100 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, under the direction of the Northern Command and the Intelligence Division, attacked and destroyed thousands of launch pads belonging to Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, the Hezbollah terrorist army.
Most of the rockets on the launch pads were set to launch at 5:00 am. They were aimed at northern Israel and Gush Dan in the center of the country, including Tel Aviv. Israel’s preemptive strike began at 4:45 am, in just enough time to prevent the attacks. More than 40 launch sites were attacked.
At 4:47 am, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari issued an English-language statement about the preemptive strike and explaining why it was taking place.
“A short while ago, the IDF identified the Hezbollah terrorist organization preparing to fire missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory. In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the IDF is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians.
“This follows more than 6,700 rockets, missiles, and explosive UAVs fired by Hezbollah at Israeli families, homes, and communities since October 8th. Hezbollah will soon fire rockets, and possibly missiles and UAVs, towards Israeli territory. We will shortly update the Home Front Command Defensive guidelines for those in Israel.
“From right next to the homes of Lebanese civilians in the South of Lebanon, we can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians. We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating, to move out of harm’s way immediately for their own safety. Hezbollah’s ongoing aggression risks dragging the people of Lebanon, the people of Israel- and the whole region- into a wider escalation.
Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah’s attacks on our civilians. We are operating in self defense from Hezbollah – and any other enemy that joins in their attacks against us and we are ready to do everything we need to defend the people of Israel,” Hagari added.
At around 7:30 am, Hagari issued a similar statement in Hebrew to the media about the strike.
“In the past hour, we identified extensive preparation by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to fire toward the Israeli Home Front. After extensive identification, the IAF and Northern Command began proactively and broadly striking Hezbollah targets in order to remove the threats aimed at the citizens of Israel. We are removing threats against the Israeli home front. Dozens of IAF jets are currently striking targets in various locations in southern Lebanon. We are continuing to remove threats, and to intensively strike against the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
Herzog used his post, written a few hours later, to “express our gratitude and support for our daughters and sons in the Israel Defense Forces, as well as in the security, emergency, and rescue services, for their relentless efforts across all battlefronts.
“Their immense sacrifices and personal costs in thwarting the malicious acts of our enemies and in defending the State of Israel and its citizens deserve our deepest thanks. I hug all of them with deep gratitude!” he wrote.
Hezbollah issued a statement denying the success of the preemptive strike, claiming the IDF “failed to intercept the attack drones” and saying no one was killed in the Israeli strikes “because we had evacuated them.”
There was no comment on the destruction of the thousands of precision-guided missiles that were aimed at Israel and prepared to launch.
