Hezbollah strike in Haifa wounds over 60, kills 4 soldiers
Tensions between Iran and Israel have been raised to a new level after Hezbollah succeeded in hitting a military base in northern Israel with a drone strike on October 13th, according to reports by leading news agencies.
An Israeli volunteer rescue service said more than 60 people were wounded south of Haifa, where Hezbollah earlier claimed a drone strike that targeted a military base. Hezbollah said it launched “a squadron of attack drones” at a military training camp in Binyamina, south of Haifa, in response to Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.
Other reports have indicated that at least four Israeli soldiers have been killed by the strike, with speculation that Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief of staff was killed also in the attack.
READ: UN defies Israel’s order to move away from Lebanon border
Hezbollah called the attack near Binyamina city retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut on October 10th that killed 22 people. It later said it targeted Israel’s elite Golani brigade, launching dozens of missiles to distract Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ air defence systems during the assault by “squadrons” of drones.
The Golani brigade is conducting raids along Lebanon’s border with Israel, clearing a strip which had bunkers and tunnels which Hezbollah operated on the Lebanese side.
The attack is unprecedented with even Israel media stating it was “the most bloody and shocking attack since the beginning of the war”, according to journalist Sulaiman Ahmed via X.
Israel’s advanced air-defence systems, it is rare for so many people to be wounded by drones or missiles. While Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire almost daily in the year since the war in Gaza began, this latest strike by Hezbollah raises the stakes and puts the spotlight on Israel’s air defence system.
Consequently, US is sending a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile defence battery to Israel, reportedly along with about 100 US troops, deepening American involvement in the crisis-hit region and worrying analysts in the Middle East that America is edging itself closer each day into a war it won’t be able to get out of nor stop. According to the Guardian, “the last time the US sent such a missile system to the Middle East was in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ attacks on Israel on 7 October last year”.
Aljazeera/Al Arabiya/Guardian
