Militant members of the Hezbollah group reportedly fired multiple missiles and drones at a village in northern Israel, leaving at least 14 people injured. Two of the people are thought to be seriously hurt, according to social media reports.
A suicide drone that managed to pierce through the Israeli air defences on Wednesday morning hit a community centre in Aramsha, a Bedouin village south of the Lebanese border. Another missile struck a car, injuring one of its passengers, Israeli publication Ynet wrote.
One snap posted on social media believed to be showing the aftermath of the missile attack showed a huge plume of black smoke rising from the rubble, while another depicted a building with smashed windows.
An early message published on messaging platform Telegram by the IDF, the Israeli military, read: “Sirens sounded in Arab al-Aramshe, northern Israel.” The force responded with artillery fire targeting the sources of the rocket launches.
The fresh attack comes after Iran launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Israel on Saturday, the first direct attack from Tehran on the territory since the beginning of their troubled relations.
The country’s air defence system, supported by fighter jets from the US and the UK, thwarted the attack, with only a few ballistic missiles landing on Israeli territory.
This reported missile strike is also far from being the first to be launched by Hezbollah – a group militarily and financially supported by Iran.
The Iranian proxy group has been involved in border skirmishes with the Israeli military since the beginning of the war in Gaza last October.
This morning, at approximately 7am BST, the IDF had already reported sirens ringing in northern Israel amid a missile launch from the Lebanese territory.
A statement that followed read: “Following the sirens that sounded in the western Galilee, several launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. No injuries were reported. IDF soldiers struck the sources of the launches.
“Overnight, IAF fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon, including military sites and compounds in the areas of Khiam, Mansouri, Aalma El Chaeb, and Yater in southern Lebanon.”
The world has been fearing a new and terrifying conflict in the Middle East in the wake of the Iranian attack on Saturday.
While Israel‘s allies in the West have urged the Netanyahu government to de-escalate tensions, Jerusalem has signalled it will issue a military response to Iran. In turn, Tehran has already warned it would retaliate against any Israeli attack.
UK Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron reiterated the UK’s wish for de-escalation during a trip to Israel on Wednesday. He said: “The situation is very concerning, it’s right to show solidarity with Israel, it’s right to have made our views clear about what should happen next. But it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act, we hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible and in a way that, as I said yesterday, is smart as well as tough.”
The British politician said his trip’s mission was to bring back international focus on the ongoing war in Gaza. He explained: “The real need is to refocus back on Hamas, back on the hostages, back on getting the aid in, back on getting a pause in the conflict in Gaza.
“That’s why I am here today, to talk to the Israeli Government, to talk to the Palestinian Authority, to try and push things forward.”
Tyler Mitchell