Lebanon's Hezbollah launches drone attacks on Israel, says more to come

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s group Hezbollah launched a series of drone and rocket attacks into northern Israel on Tuesday but warned that its much-anticipated retaliation for Israel’s killing of a top commander last week was yet to come.

Hezbollah said it launched a swarm of attack drones at two military sites near Acre in northern Israel, and also attacked an Israeli military vehicle in another location.

The Israeli military said a number of hostile drones were identified crossing from Lebanon and one was intercepted.

Israeli medical officials said seven people were evacuated to hospital, to the south of the coastal city of Nahariya, one in critical condition.

The Israeli military said an initial investigation indicated the injuries were caused by an interceptor that “missed the target and hit the ground, injuring several civilians.” It said the incident was still under review.

Reuters TV footage showed one impact site near a bus stop on a main road outside Nahariya.

In a statement, the Israeli military said sirens sounded around Acre, but that turned out to be a false alarm. It said its air force struck two Hezbollah facilities in south Lebanon.

Fears are rising that the Middle East could be tipped into full-blown war following vows by Hezbollah to avenge Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr’s killing, and by Iran to respond to the assassination in Tehran last week of the head of Palestinian group Hamas.

A Hezbollah source told Reuters that “the response to the assassination of commander Fuad Shukr has not yet come.”

Earlier on Tuesday, four people were killed in a strike on a home in the Lebanese town of Mayfadoun, nearly 30 km (19 miles) north of the border, medics and a security source said.

Two additional security sources said those killed were Hezbollah fighters, but the group had not yet posted its usual death notices.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been trading fire for the last 10 months in parallel with the Gaza war, with the tit-for-tat strikes mostly limited to the border area.

Last week, Israel killed Shukr, Hezbollah’s senior-most military commander, in a strike on the group’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, vowed revenge, but said the response would be “studied.” He is set to speak on Tuesday at the one-week memorial for Shukr.