At least nineteen rockets were fired Friday morning from southern Lebanon at the Golan Heights, and Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the shooting. The IDF estimates that Hezbollah was indeed behind the shooting, given the number of rockets, their accuracy, and their target area. According to the IDF, the Iron Dome system intercepted around ten of the rockets, and the rest fell in open spaces in the Har Dov area. The army responded with artillery fire at the sources of the launch.
There are reports that the Israeli Air Force attacked Lebanon around noon on Friday.
A Hezbollah official announcement Friday morning read: “At 11:15 AM the Squads named after the martyrs Ali Kamel Mahsan and Muhammad Hassan Tahan (Hezbollah terrorists killed by Israel – DI) fired dozens of 122 mm rockets at IDF outposts in the Shebaa Farms area in response to Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.
The Israeli warplane attack on south Lebanon on the night between Wednesday and Thursday this week was apparently taken as a direct insult to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was planning to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the 2006 second Lebanon war with a special speech on Saturday. The fact that the IDF is free to use and fire at any area in Lebanon it chooses had to be challenged.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been updated on the developing situation in the north and will hold consultations with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, and senior defense establishment officials.
RAW FOOTAGE: 3 rockets were just fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel. 2 rockets landed in Israel, and 1 fell inside Lebanon.
In response, our artillery forces fired into Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/Sf3754RqRU
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF)
Meanwhile, there has been a report on Twitter that residents of Hasbaiyya, a Lebanese town at the foot of Mount Hermon, stopped and seized a truck loaded with rockets.
reports of hasbaya Shwaya town residents stopped a loaded Barrage Truck pic.twitter.com/W95OHSX2Yn
— ܡܐܪܝܘ ???? (@MarioLeb79)