18 Israelis wounded in Hezbollah attack from Lebanon

Eighteen people, most of them Israeli soldiers, were injured on Wednesday when a Hezbollah attack targeted a community center in Arab al-Aramshe in the Western Galilee.

Air-raid sirens were not activated in the Bedouin border village.

Fourteen Israel Defense Forces soldiers were among the wounded, the army confirmed on Wednesday evening.

Magen David Adom emergency medics treated the victims on the scene before evacuating them to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.

One victim arrived in critical condition and required surgery, the hospital said. Two were listed as being in serious condition while the others had injuries ranging from moderate to minor.

Most of the wounded suffered shrapnel injuries, according to the medical center.

In a statement cited by Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese daily close to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist organization took responsibility for the attack on the community center, claiming it launched a combined strike with guided missiles and drones on a military position in Arab al-Aramshe.

Hezbollah said it attacked in response to Israeli airstrikes that killed several of its members in Ain Baal and Chehabiyeh in Southern Lebanon earlier this week.

“Over the past hour, a number of launches were detected from Lebanese territory towards the Arab al-Aramshe area, the IDF attacked the sources of the shooting,” the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on X.

The Israeli Air Force also attacked terrorist infrastructure in the Lebanese town of Ayta ash Shab, the military said, noting that several Hezbollah operatives were staying in the building when it was struck.

On Tuesday afternoon, attack drones launched by Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon lightly wounded three people near Moshav Beit Hillel in the Eastern Galilee.

Beit Hillel, located three miles from Kiryat Shmona, has been largely evacuated since late October due to the cross-border attacks by Hezbollah terrorists.

Shortly after the attack, an Israeli airstrike in Ain Baal, near Tyre in Southern Lebanon, killed a senior Hezbollah terrorist responsible for launching rockets and missiles at the Jewish state, the IDF said.

Ismail Baz, who commanded Hezbollah’s coastal sector, “organized and planned various terrorist plots” in recent months, according to the army.

The military added, “Ismail served in several positions as a senior and veteran official in the military wing of Hezbollah. His current rank is equivalent to the rank of brigadier general.”

Tehran’s terror proxy in Lebanon has been engaged in near-daily attacks on Israel’s evacuated border region since joining the war in support of Hamas a day after the Oct. 7 invasion of the northwestern Negev.