IAF launches preemptive strike on Hezbollah sites

Israel Air Force jets on Wednesday conducted a series of strikes targeting Hezbollah terror infrastructure in Lebanon.

The strikes, which appeared to be preemptive, come amid a months-long escalation at the Israel-Lebanon border by the Iranian-backed terrorist group.

On Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces artillery struck several terror sites in Lebanon after a rocket was launched towards the Jewish state.

The projectile, fired from Lebanese territory towards the northernmost Israeli city of Metula, landed in an open area, causing no injuries or damage.

Also Tuesday, the Iron Dome defense system intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that crossed into Israeli territory.

In response, IDF aircraft and tanks struck a series of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus warned on Monday that Hezbollah was “dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war.”

He noted that since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas’s mass murder attack on southern Israel, Hezbollah had fired more than 1,000 rockets, missiles, drones and mortar shells towards Israel.

Five Israeli civilians and nine military personnel have been killed by enemy fire in the north since the Hamas massacre. More than a hundred Hezbollah members have been killed by Israeli retaliatory strikes, according to estimates.

Israel has informed the Biden administration that it wants Hezbollah‘s terrorist army pushed back some 6 miles from the border as part of a diplomatic deal, Axios reported on Monday, citing three U.S. and Israeli officials.

The Lebanese terror group’s escalations since Oct. 7 were reportedly one of the main topics discussed during Monday’s meeting in Tel Aviv between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended 2006’s Second Lebanon War, barred Hezbollah from maintaining a military presence south of the Litani River, which is located some 18 miles north of the border.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday vowed to restore security to the north so that residents of border communities could return to their homes.

“We will do this either through an agreement, or using force,” said Gallant.

“We don’t want war, but we won’t hold it for too long,” he added.