The Israeli military and Hezbollah exchanged strikes on Friday with the situation escalating when Hezbollah targeted the northern Israeli town of Safed launching “rocket salvos” to retaliate against Israeli airstrikes that had earlier devastated its stronghold in southern Beirut, as per AFP news agency.
A Hezbollah rocket hit a house and a car in Safed, Israel, prompting a swift response from Israel‘s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom.”A direct hit from a Hezbollah rocket was identified in (Safed),” the Israeli military reported. Local police confirmed that “no injuries have been reported, but significant property damage has occurred.” Authorities were working to isolate the impact sites, with bomb disposal units on the scene.
This attack came shortly after Israel conducted a massive airstrike on Hezbollah’s headquarters in southern Beirut, aiming at the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The airstrike was described as the heaviest bombardment in nearly a year of conflict, resulting in the destruction of multiple buildings and leaving at least two people dead and several injured.
Hezbollah denied that Nasrallah was the target, saying, “There is no truth to any statement about the Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs.” The group characterised its actions against Safed as a necessary defence of Lebanon in response to Israeli attacks on civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the operation, asserting, “Israel is doing what every sovereign state would do to protect its people.”
The conflict has resulted in a humanitarian crisis, with thousands displaced in Lebanon and the death toll from Israeli strikes exceeds 720, according to health authorities.