Hezbollah launched a missile at central Israel on Wednesday afternoon, marking its second attack of the day and prompting residents in the Sharon Plain, Tel Aviv metropolitan area and communities near Ben Gurion Airport to seek shelter. Loud explosions were reported as interceptors were deployed against the incoming projectiles.
The assault followed a pre-recorded televised address by Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, who said that any path to indirect negotiations through the Lebanese government with Israel would be contingent on an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
He added that the U.S. election results were irrelevant to Hezbollah’s war with Israel, asserting that only developments on the battlefield, not political decisions, would bring an end to hostilities.
Qassem warned that if Israel aimed for a protracted conflict, Hezbollah was prepared to engage in a drawn-out confrontation.
In a speech marking the end of the 40-day Muslim mourning period for Hassan Nasrallah—Hezbollah’s former chief killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last September—Qassem, vowed to strike deep within Israel.
“Our missiles and rockets will reach everywhere in Israel,” Qassem declared hours after Hezbollah launched at least 10 projectiles, including missiles and rockets, toward central Israel, hitting areas around Tel Aviv.
Rocket fragment falls on a car in Ra'anana
(Video: Yariv Katz)
Shrapnel from the attack landed in a parking area at Ben Gurion International Airport, causing flight delays but no injuries. Shrapnel also fell in Raanana, north of Tel Aviv, damaging a parked car. The IDF said most of the projectiles were intercepted.
Hezbollah also directed sustained rocket fire at northern Israel, with some 50 projectiles targeting the Upper Galilee in the early afternoon. While many landed in open areas, one rocket struck the evacuated border community of Avivim, damaging about a dozen homes.
As Qassem’s address aired, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson issued a warning to civilians in Beirut’s Dahieh district, a Hezbollah stronghold, urging residents to move at least 500 meters away from any Hezbollah site or installation in anticipation of an Israeli strike.
“For the safety of yourselves and your families, you must immediately evacuate to a distance of at least 500 meters,” said Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee. These warnings typically precede IDF strikes by up to four hours.
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First published: 16:15, 11.06.24