Israeli military forces struck southern Lebanon on Wednesday in retaliation for an attack on an IDF tank earlier in the day by Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
“A short while ago, a launch of an anti-tank guided missile from Lebanon toward a military post adjacent to the community of Arab al-Aramshe on the Lebanese border was identified,” the IDF said in a statement.
Some casualties were reported but details are not yet available.
The terror group said in a statement claiming responsibility that the attack was a response to the deaths of three of its operatives Monday, following clashes with the IDF on Israel’s northern border.
On Tuesday, the IDF attacked targets in the Syrian town of Quneitra, along Israel’s northern border, in response to Syrian shelling aimed at Israel’s Golan Heights.
The Syrian attack followed a skirmish between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
IDF tanks targeted Hezbollah observation outposts after the Iranian proxy fired some 15 rockets into northern Israel earlier the same day.
Israeli forces retaliated against the Syrian shelling with artillery and mortar fire to the source of the attack.
On Tuesday evening, Hezbollah carried out a separate anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) attack, aiming at an IDF armored vehicle on the border that was empty at the time.
Lebanese forces fired an anti-tank missile across Israel’s northern border at around 10:30 am, the IDF confirmed.
Residents of communities in the Mateh Asher local council were ordered to enter their protected spaces in response to the attack.
“Hezbollah is closely watching what Israel is doing in Gaza, and sees the magnitude of the destruction, and how Israel is responding to terror. They see – and they understand,” an IDF spokesperson said in a separate statement issued shortly before the anti-missile attack.
Nevertheless, the Galilee Hospital in Nahariya has moved its patients to an underground, reinforced facility, and there were reports that Jewish communities within seven kilometers (4.35 miles) of the northern border have been evacuated in anticipation of a possible decision by Hezbollah to open a second front in the war launched Saturday against Israel by Gaza’s Iranian proxy, Hamas.
Israel’s Health Ministry formally ordered the transfer of patients in all northern Israeli hospitals to those in the central region late Wednesday afternoon in light of the escalating situation along the border with Lebanon and the Golan Heights.
