Fires caused by Hezbollah rockets threaten Israeli ‘strategic sites’, media says
We’ve been reporting all day on a massive rocket barrage unleashed against Israel by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, one of the largest since the Gaza war began, after Israel killed one of the group’s top commanders late last night.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted an official with Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service, who said that the brushfires that broke out as a result of Hezbollah’s rockets endangered “strategic sites and facilities”.
It added that firefighting teams are close to gaining control of the fires in the towns of Biriya, Kadita, Ein Zeitim, and Tziv’on. In addition, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reports that the fires burned an area of about 30,000 square metres (about 322,917 square feet).
Hezbollah says fighters targeted an Israeli warplane
The Lebanese armed group in a statement has claimed its forces attacked “a hostile Zionist warplane that violated Lebanese airspace”. Hezbollah said its fighters fired a surface-to-air missile at it, “forcing it to retreat towards occupied Palestine and leave Lebanese airspace immediately”.
Earlier, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleague reported that Israeli forces launched raids on the towns of Markaba, Odaisseh, and Deir Siriane in southern Lebanon.
Israeli education minister: Hezbollah attacks could disrupt coming school year
Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 has quoted Yoav Kisch, who said that if the “reality” in northern Isreal, where Hezbollah has launched daily attacks on Israeli military positions and settlements, does not change by August 1, “The school year will not open.”
Currently, there are fires raging in northern Isreal, after the Lebanese group attacked Israel with one of the largest rocket barrages it has unleashed since the beginning of the war.
The launch of close to 100 projectiles this morning came in response to the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in southeastern Lebanon in a strike the previous evening.
The attacks raise concerns that the military confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah is escalating, with both sides saying they are prepared for war.
