Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were lightly wounded when suicide drones launched by Lebanese Hezbollah landed near the western Galilee border town of Shlomi on Monday morning, the military said.
Both soldiers were evacuated for medical treatment at a nearby hospital, and the army informed their families, it stated.
Iran-backed Hezbollah took responsibility for at least six assaults on the Jewish state on Monday, including an drone attack that hit a residential building in the coastal city of Nahariya. Two apartments were badly damaged, and no casualties were reported in the incident.
“I was sitting with my insurance agent, and suddenly there was siren after siren,” Shahar Toledano, whose flat was struck by the attack drone, told local media. “We are used to explosions, but not this one.”
In response to the attacks, Israeli jets struck several Hezbollah structures and observation posts in Lebanon’s Kafr Kila, the IDF stated.
An Israeli drone targeted a Hezbollah operative in the Tallouseh area, an d IDF tanks shelled a Hezbollah observation post in Kafr Shuba.
Following a situational assessment with the IDF’s General Staff Forum on Monday, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi stressed that the military is “ready for any mission that will be required.”
“The IDF operates strongly in the north, and is at a high level of readiness with prepared operational plans,” Halevi said.
He described Monday’s Hezbollah attack on the Nahariya high-rise as “a serious incident, just like the shooting at the citizens of the north.”
Hezbollah has attacked the Jewish state nearly daily since Oct. 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones at Israel. It has killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain internally displaced due to the ongoing violence.
August was the most intense month in the conflict between the IDF and Hezbollah so far, with more than 1,300 attacks on Israeli territory recorded.
Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, warned Jerusalem on Monday against expanding its operations against the terror group, Lebanon’s LBC TV reported.
“War with Hezbollah does not return the displaced; it increases their numbers,” he told the channel. “If we face a war, we will respond with an even harsher one, and we will not abandon the field.”
“Either Israel halts the war now, which would mitigate its losses, or it remains in a state of attrition, which would expand its problems, losses, and internal complexities,” the Lebanese terrorist added. “It cannot win the war no matter how long it lasts, and all indicators suggest this.”
On Sunday, U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla arrived in Tel Aviv for separate meetings with Halevi and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about the war in the north.
“The IDF will continue to deepen the relationship with the United States Army out of a commitment to strengthening regional stability and coordination between the armies,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
The CENTCOM chief also met with Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, commander of IDF Northern Command. They held a situational assessment in the commander’s “pit,” or command and control center, where Kurilla was presented with the Israeli military’s operational plans for Lebanon.
