Hezbollah has announced that it launched dozens of rockets at Israel’s Ramat David Airbase, east of Haifa, in response to a series of Israeli attacks, prompting the UN to warn of an “imminent catastrophe” if the tit-for-tat violence continues.
As per an Al Jazeera report, sirens were activated across northern Israel in the early hours of Sunday.
If confirmed, the assault would be Hezbollah’s farthest-reaching attack inside Israel since the start of the ongoing cross-border clashes in October last year.
The Israeli military said more than 100 projectiles were fired early on Sunday from Lebanon, forcing hundreds of thousands to take cover and prompting school closures in Israel’s north.
Educational activities would not be permitted across northern Israel until at least Monday at 6pm (15:00 GMT), the military’s Home Front Command said, affecting “hundreds of thousands of children”, according to military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani. “In Haifa, a lot of schools are closed … and offices are empty,” said resident Patrice Wolff, who works in the medical industry.
The Israeli military also issued restrictions on large gatherings in northern Israel, including Haifa – the country’s third-largest city. There were no reports of casualties or any significant damage by rockets in Israel on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Israeli army said it carried out hundreds of air raids across southern Lebanon. It also claimed attacks on 110 other locations in the early hours of Sunday morning. In a statement issued by his office on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that Israel “inflicted a series of blows” against Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed that Israeli operations against Hezbollah will continue until residents of northern Israel can return home safely.
The latest violence could lead to an “imminent catastrophe” in the Middle East, the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, warned on Sunday, saying a military solution was not the answer.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” she said in a post on X.
