Iran-backed and Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah on Sunday (August 4) fired over 50 projectiles inside Israel amid raging war in Gaza that has kept West Asia on edge for months. The latest barrage from Hezbollah activated Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system and according to initial reports most of the projectiles launched by Hezbollah overnight were destroyed in the air.
Hezbollah said its attack on Beit Hillel in northern Israel, about 230 km north of Jerusalem, was in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Kfar Kela and Deir Siriane in Lebanon, which it claimed injured civilians.
Hezbollah’s latest spree of offence towards Israel comes after two targeted assassinations that Israelis have allegedly done in recent days, notably that of Fouad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Interestingly, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the assassinations of Shukr and Haniyeh. The Israeli outlook follows a pattern of ambiguity that the country has kept since launching the retaliatory state of war on Gaza after October 7 last year.
WION reported earlier this week that Iran’s Supreme Leader has approved ‘retaliation’ for Israel’s attack on Tehran which killed Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas chief who had been part of truce talks being brokered by Qatar and Egypt.
The current state of war: How the world is reacting?
India was among the world’s first countries that asked its citizens to leave Lebanon on August 1.
The United States and the United Kingdom followed suit on August 3 when they asked their citizens to leave the country at any available ticket.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden hoped that Tehran would not retaliate for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, stating, “I hope so. I don’t know.”
Gaza health officials claim that at least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in 1,200 deaths and 250 abductions.
(With inputs from agencies)
