The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah announced on Saturday that it fired 62 projectiles at one of the main intelligence centers in northern Israel, in its first response to the assassination of the number two of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, on Tuesday on the outskirts of Beirut.
At 8:10 a.m. local time, fighters from the armed formation fired dozens of projectiles "of various types" at the Meron Air Surveillance Base, one of only two such centers in the Jewish state, Hezbollah said in a statement.
According to the note, the attacked facilities are located on top of the "highest mountain in occupied Palestine" - another major peak in Israeli hands belongs to the Golan seized from Syria - and are the only ones intended for "administration, surveillance and air control" in northern Israel.
"There is no major alternative to the Meron base," Hezbullah said, explaining that the Hebrew state has only one other similar center in the south of the country.
The Israeli army confirmed the offensive against its military base, after verifying at least 40 rockets in flight, most of them intercepted, and reported no casualties.
The massive rocket fire triggered alerts in about 90 communities in the north of the country, but the Israel Defense Forces said only the base on Mount Meron was targeted, according to the Times of Israel.
The Israeli military said it carried out a counterattack that would have hit "a terrorist cell responsible for the launches."
Buildings engulfed in smoke after an Israeli attack on the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab, on the border between the two countries. Photo: AP
Reprisal
Saturday's launch is a response to an Israeli-blamed bombardment that killed al-Arouri and six others in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a major stronghold of the Shiite movement that had not been attacked since its 2006 war with Israel.
The border between Israel and Lebanon also became a scene of conflict, but Arouri's murder raises fears of escalation.
On Friday, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah had warned that the assassination of his Hamas "brother and friend" "would not go unanswered" and had warned that retaliation for the bombing, for which Israel has not officially claimed responsibility, was "definitely coming."
"We will not remain silent in the face of a violation of this level, because that would mean that all of Lebanon would be exposed. All the cities, the villages, the figures would be exposed," the Shiite cleric had said in a speech.
The Lebanese formation and Israeli forces have been engaged in intense crossfire across the border between the two countries since October 8, while this week's attack in the suburbs of Beirut has raised fears of further escalation.
Source: EFE and AFP
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