Israel forces suffer ‘heavy losses’ on first day of close combat with Hezbollah
We’ve heard from the Israeli army throughout the day about the heavy losses sustained in battles with Hezbollah fighters just across the border in Lebanon, in three separate locations, that resulted in the killing of eight Israeli soldiers and the injury of dozens. Many of them had to be air-lifted.
This is really heavy face-to-face combat that the Israelis must have expected given their experience with similar attempts at invading Lebanon, the last of which was in 2006.
But a very heavy loss to sustain on the first day. On top of that, the Israeli army is confirming that Israel was hit by about 200 rockets from Hezbollah just in the past 24 hours. So the fighting is relentless.
The Israeli army chief, Herzi Halevi, said that Israel will retaliate. It will retaliate against Iran. That it can hit anywhere in the Middle East. Trying to, in spite of all those losses, maintain the position that Israel can strike back and can “hold the line”, if you will, and go further and deeper into Lebanon given the fact that it is enjoying, as we are seeing, a lot of support, especially from the White House.
Two ‘unmanned aircraft’ detected off coast of Israel’s Tel Aviv
Israel’s military has reported that two aerial drones were detected in the airspace off the coast of Tel Aviv following the triggering of air defence alarms.
The Israeli air force intercepted one of the drones “in the maritime space off the coast” of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, and the second crashed down “in an open area”, the military said, adding that there were no casualties.
The military did not say from where the drones originated or the likely target of the attack.
Satellite images show damage to Israel’s F-35 jet fighter airbase after Iran missile strikes
Satellite images of an aircraft hangar at a key Israeli military airbase appear to show a large hole in the roof following a massive barrage of Iranian missiles on Tuesday night, the AP news agency reports.
Images of the Nevatim airbase in southern Israel show damage to the roof in a row of buildings near the main runway, and large pieces of debris can be seen around the building, the AP reports.
Nevatim is home to the Israeli air force’s most advanced aircraft, including the US-produced F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets. It is not clear from the satellite imagery whether any aircraft were in the hangar when it was struck.
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the satellite images. Nevatim also sustained light damage during an Iranian missile and drone attack in April.
This satellite image taken by Planet Labs PBC shows a damaged hangar at Israel’s Nevatim airbase on Wednesday
Hezbollah fires surface-to-air missiles at Israeli helicopter
Hezbollah said it fired surface-to-air missiles at an Israeli military helicopter flying over Beit Hillel in northern Israel, forcing it to retreat.
Hezbollah did not say if the helicopter was hit by its missile on Wednesday, and there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
It is Hezbollah’s first reported missile attack on an Israeli helicopter since fighting escalated amid Israel’s bombing across Lebanon and the start of its ground offensive in Lebanon’s south this week.
