Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group, executed a series of drone and rocket assaults on northern Israel on Tuesday in a marked escalation of tensions following the Israeli killing of top military commander Fuad Shukr last week. However, the group indicated its anticipated retaliation is yet to be launched.
The militant group announced the deployment of a swarm of attack drones targeting two military sites near Acre, along with an assault on an Israeli military vehicle in another area.
The Israeli military reported intercepting one of several drones identified crossing from Lebanon while noting that several civilians were injured near the coastal city of Nahariya. Footage from Reuters TV illustrated the aftermath of one drone strike near a bus stop on a busy thoroughfare outside the city.
In an official statement, the Israeli military confirmed that sirens in Acre were triggered, only to later clarify that this was a false alarm. They reported conducting airstrikes on two Hezbollah facilities in southern Lebanon in response to the attacks.
Tensions in the region are escalating, with fears of a potential full-scale war looming following Hezbollah’s threats of retaliation for Shukr’s assassination, in conjunction with Iran’s vow to respond to the assassination of the head of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Tehran last week.
A source within Hezbollah said that the response to Commander Shukr’s assassination "has not yet come," suggesting that larger operations may still be pending.
Earlier on Tuesday, reports emerged of four fatalities resulting from a strike on a home in the Lebanese town of Mayfadoun, situated nearly 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border. Medics and security sources indicated that those killed were believed to be Hezbollah fighters; however, the group had not yet issued its routine death notifications.
This latest round of hostilities comes as Hezbollah and the Israeli military have engaged in reciprocal fire over the past ten months, largely paralleling the ongoing Gaza war, with most exchanges confined to the border area.
Last week, Israel’s military strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs resulted in the death of Shukr, the senior-most military commander in Hezbollah. In response, Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed that the organisation's response will be "studied," with expectations of further disclosures set to follow during a memorial for Shukr scheduled later today.
(With agency inputs)