A house in the northern Galilee town of Metula took a direct hit from an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon amid exchanges of fire between Hezbollah terrorists and the Israel Defense Forces.
The house caught fire but there were no reports of injuries in the town, which has been largely evacuated due to incessant cross-border attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists.
According to the IDF, Hezbollah also fired projectiles at Kibbutz Yiftah, which like Metula is located along the Lebanon border in the Eastern Galilee, as well as at Moshav Ya’ara and Kibbutz Hanita, both also close to the border but in the Western Galilee.
In a statement cited by Beirut-based, Hezbollah-aligned Al Mayadeen television, the terrorist organization announced it had targeted IDF soldiers serving on the border near the Southern Lebanon town of Meiss el-Jabal with rocket fire. In addition, the terror group said it fired missiles towards Kibbutz Manara in the Eastern Galilee.
Israeli forces responded by shelling the source of the fire, the military said.
Israeli Air Force jets on Wednesday also attacked a Hezbollah terror compound in Rachaf in Southern Lebanon. And IDF artillery attacked Hezbollah targets in the areas of Aalma El Chaeb and Aitaroun.
Hezbollah has been testing the waters, initiating a series of fire exchanges as the Jewish state fights Hamas terrorists to the south.
On Monday, two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded by a Hezbollah rocket near the Lebanon border. They were evacuated to the hospital in stable condition.
In response, Israeli Air Force jets attacked two buildings with Hezbollah terrorists inside in the area of Yaron in Southern Lebanon, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said via X.
Israeli forces also “attacked a launching pad from which [rocket] launches were made to the north of the country,” Hagari said.
On Sunday, Israeli fighter jets attacked two Hezbollah military sites near the Lebanese villages of Zibqin and Khula. In addition, the army fired artillery “against several areas in Southern Lebanon to remove a threat.”
The Jewish state must seriously prepare for the possibility of a war with Hezbollah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned following a situational assessment held in the Haifa bayside suburb of Kiryat Ata on Tuesday.
“We have to take into account the possibility of a wide escalation; this is something that can happen,” said Gallant, warning that the possibility of a diplomatic agreement with Hezbollah is rapidly “exhausting itself.
“Alongside the military preparedness that we are advancing, and alongside the process that we are trying to lead in the political-diplomatic efforts, we are also preparing in the civilian sphere and the [IDF] Home Front Command has received clear instructions,” Gallant said.
If conditions on Israel’s northern border deteriorate further, “the situation in Haifa will not be good, but in Beirut, the situation will be devastating,” he added.
The some 80,000 evacuated Israelis who live up to nine kilometers (5.5 miles) from the northern border will not be asked to return home until Hezbollah withdraws to the north of the Litani River and “security is established” in the area, Gallant assured community leaders last year.
