Hezbollah announced that it targeted Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel with dozens of rockets in response to the strike on Al-Habariyah earlier today. Earlier, Hezbollah stated that the Israeli attack on the town of Al-Habariyah in southern Lebanon, which resulted in the death of 7 paramedics, will not go unpunished.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported today that a 25-year-old person was killed in a rocket strike on the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel originating from Lebanon this morning.
The Israeli army stated that at least 30 rockets were fired at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel.
It added that an airstrike conducted by its aircraft on the Al-Habariyah area in southern Lebanon early today targeted what it described as “a saboteur.”
An Israeli army spokesperson stated that the targeted person “advocated for terrorist attacks towards Israeli territories.” He stated that the targeted person “belongs to the Islamic Jihad organization” and that he “was also involved in the past in carrying out attacks through various routes towards Israeli territories.” He noted that several others described as saboteurs were killed in the same airstrike.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad Group, the Lebanese Islamic faction affiliated with the Palestinian Hamas movement, announced that an Israeli airstrike targeted an ambulance center in the village of Al-Habariyah in southern Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of seven people.
A source in the Islamic Jihad Group told Agence France-Presse that “seven paramedics” were killed in the airstrike that targeted an ambulance center in Al-Habariyah managed by the “Lebanese Ambulance Association” affiliated with the group.
Many parties and factions in Lebanon have health and ambulance associations affiliated with them.
The “Lebanese Ambulance Association” affiliated with the Islamic Jihad Group stated in a statement that the airstrike targeted a building in Al-Habariyah used by the emergency and relief agency under its supervision. It clarified that the emergency and relief agency uses this building as an ambulance center.
The statement added, “We consider this targeting a heinous crime by all standards and a flagrant violation of international laws and conventions, and we hold the party carrying out this heinous crime fully responsible.”
On the other hand, another official in the Islamic Jihad Group stated that more than ten paramedics were at the ambulance center at the time of the targeting, indicating that the bodies were retrieved from under the rubble.
Israeli strikes targeted the Hermel area, which is considered a stronghold for Hezbollah in northeastern Lebanon, about 130 kilometers from the southern border with Israel, according to official media in Beirut and a security source.
These raids are the first strikes to target the Hermel area in the Bekaa Valley and the deepest in Lebanese territory since the start of the exchange of shelling between Hezbollah and Israel for about six months.
Since the beginning of the shelling exchange between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, at least 331 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters, in addition to 57 civilians, according to a tally compiled by Agence France-Presse based on party statements and Lebanese official sources.
This tally does not include the casualties who fell in Al-Habariyah on Wednesday morning.
In contrast, at least 10 soldiers were killed on the Israeli side by fire from Lebanon.
