Sonic booms – the war tactic Israel uses to sow fear in Lebanon
The first time Eliah Kaylough, 26, heard the thunderous blast, he was so terrified, he instinctively ran for cover. He had just started his shift as a waiter at a restaurant on bustling Gemmayze Street in east Beirut on Tuesday when he was suddenly startled by the sound of a major blast.
For Kaylough, it immediately triggered memories of the massive port explosion in 2020 and he was terrified the city was either experiencing a new explosion or that it was under attack.
But as he was racing out of the restaurant, a man from a nearby shop stopped him and explained that Beirut wasn’t being bombed. The sound, Kaylough discovered, was a sonic boom, a thunderous noise caused by an object moving faster than the speed of sound.
Israeli jets have been increasingly triggering these sonic booms over Lebanon since October 7 last year, following the attack on southern Israel by Hamas. But the booms which sounded over Beirut on Tuesday were the loudest that had been heard in the city, several residents told Al Jazeera.
Israel increases drone presence over Lebanon: Israeli Army Radio
The Israeli military has doubled the number of drones on duty in the skies of Lebanon, according to the country’s Army Radio. The radio’s report says the move aims to “detect in real time the attempts of strikes” into the Israeli territory.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7.
Hezbollah says it will end its attacks on Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, where Israel’s war has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians.
Four rockets fired from Lebanon to Israel
Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards a site in northern Israel. This happened as air raid sirens sounded in the Israeli community of Matat on the border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah confirms attack on army site in northern Israel
The Lebanese group says on Telegram that it has struck Israeli soldiers with rockets near a military outpost around the community of Matat. The statement claimed the attack took place at 11:10am (08:10 GMT) and directly hit the target.
Hezbollah claims destruction of spy equipment in occupied Kfarchouba
The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah says it has attacked the Israeli military site Ruwaisaat al-Alam in occupied Kfarchouba, a Lebanese village near the border with Israel and the Golan Heights.
The attack at 3:05pm (12:05 GMT) destroyed “espionage equipment”, the group said in a statement on Telegram
Israel attacks areas in southern Lebanon
Israeli fighter jets attacked the village of Taybeh, while Israeli forces shelled the towns of Meiss al-Jabal, Mehaibib and Kafrchouba, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports.
Israeli planes also broke the sound barrier in Beirut, Sidon and Tyre as well as Nabatieh and Iqlim al-Tuffah, in south Lebanon, NNA said.
Two people killed in Israeli attack on Lebanon
Lebanon’s Health Ministry has confirmed that two people have been killed in an Israeli air raid that targeted Taybeh in the southern part of the country.
Four wounded in Israeli raid targeting town in southern Lebanon
Local Lebanese platforms have documented the first moments of an Israeli raid on Maaroub in southern Lebanon, which wounded four people. Footage showed plumes of smoke billowing from a charred and destroyed residence and rubble at the site of the bombing.
The Lebanese News Agency confirmed that Israeli forces targeted the outskirts of the town.
الغارة على المنزل في معروب pic.twitter.com/xF2dyAvU9O
— kataeb.org (@kataeb_Ar) August 11, 2024
Translation: The raid on a house in Maaroub
Israeli military claims air strikes on southern Lebanon
The Israeli military has claimed the attack on the village of Taybeh that killed two people, saying it was targeting “a terrorist cell”. It also confirmed that its warplanes struck a building allegedly used as a weapons depot in Derdghaiya, and other buildings in Kfar Kila and Jebbayn.
The Israeli military added that a volley of rockets entered a border community from southern Lebanon a few hours earlier, striking open areas and inflicting no casualties.
Hezbollah confirms fighters killed, attacks Israel
After multiple Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon, Hezbollah confirmed that three of its fighters have been killed. It said Samir Hijazi, Hani Haidar and Hassan Ghadban Mustafa were from southern Lebanon, but did not provide further details about their deaths.
The armed Lebanese group has claimed nine attacks on Israeli positions so far today, with the latest purportedly hitting a gathering of Israeli soldiers along the border with artillery shells.
Hezbollah boasts ‘missile and rocket array’ in southern Lebanon
An Israeli-based military research centre reports that Hezbollah has deployed a large variety of rockets and missiles in areas across Lebanon, especially its southern parts.
The weapons include short-range rockets and missiles, along with ballistic, cruise, coastal, antiaircraft and antitank guided missiles, according to Israel-Alma, which notes that the ballistic, cruise and antiship missiles have not been used in the current conflict.
“It is possible that Hezbollah will choose to use them in a targeted manner against quality targets in Israel as part of its response to the elimination of Fuad Shukr,” the centre reports, adding that multiple tactical formations could be deployed simultaneously.
Hezbollah's missile and rocket array is deployed in southern Lebanon, the Beqaa, and the Beirut area. Rockets of various ranges, short-range missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, coastal missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, and anti-tank missiles. The strategic arrays are… pic.twitter.com/C9KBwYQ3na
— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) August 11, 2024
