Beirut/Tel Aviv, Jul. 30, (dpa/GNA) – Israel struck 10 “terror targets” including a weapons depot for the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement on Tuesday, killing one of the group’s fighters, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
The militant was killed in an attack on the village of Beit Leef in southern Lebanon, the IDF said. The 10 “terror targets” of the Shiite militia were attacked in several different areas, it added.
“A weapon’s storage facility, terror infrastructure sites, military structures, and a rocket launcher were struck in southern Lebanon,” the IDF said.
Hezbollah has confirmed the death of one of its fighters. The militia usually does not elaborate on when, where and how its members died.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli planes carried out air raids targeting an uninhabited house in an area between the towns of Jibsheet and Aadchit in south Lebanon with two missiles, causing significant damage to them.
Lebanese Security sources said three Lebanese civilians were wounded in Israeli strike on Jibsheet.
In retaliation, Hezbollah said in a statement “in response to the Israeli enemy attack that targeted the town of Jibsheet and led to civilian casualties,” it fired a barrage of Katyusha rockets on northern Israel.
The Magen David Adom rescue service reported that a man aged around 30 had died of serious injuries from rocket fragments. There had previously been rocket alarms in towns on the border with Lebanon.
The IDF said it about 10 rockets had been fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with the majority intercepted. It identified a hit in HaGoshrim in northern Israel. The IDF said it is currently retaliating against the source of the attack.
Earlier, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over the capital and its suburbs causing some panic among its residents, local residents and the official news agency NNA said.
After a rocket attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights killed at least 12 children on Saturday, the Israeli government is preparing for a retaliatory strike.
Israel has blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah for the attack, but the Shiite Lebanese movement has denied any involvement.
On Tuesday, the Islamic Republic rejected Israel’s accusation that Hezbollah was involved.
“Why would Hezbollah bomb a region where the people themselves are against the Zionist regime?” said the foreign policy adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referring to what Iran calls Israel.
Kamal Charrazi said Israeli accusations were merely an excuse to further escalate the military conflict in the region.
But the IDF said it had identified the deadly missile as an Iranian-made Falak-1.
Charrazi threatened that if Israel were to attack Lebanon now, it would have to prepare for “intensive counter-reactions.”
The best solution for Israel would be to end the war in Gaza immediately to prevent further killings and destruction, Charrazi said.
GNA