TEHRAN - Lebanon’s Hezbollah struck a severe blow to Israel after firing hundreds of rockets towards the regime’s military sites on Sunday morning.

The Lebanese resistance movement hit nearly a dozen Israeli military facilities as well as the regime’s Iron Dome platforms with a barrage of 320 Katyusha rockets and a large number of drones.

Hezbollah said the military operation was as part of the “first phase” of a response to Israel’s killing of its top commander, Fuad Shukr, in a strike on Beirut on July 30.
Hezbollah noted that the Sunday strike "completed and accomplished" its initial response, adding that the full response would take “some time”. 

Hezbollah rejects Israel’s claims 

The Israeli army claimed  early Sunday that it carried out preemptive strikes against Hezbollah after it identified the movement was to carry out an attack against the regime. It said in a statement that more than 100 Israeli fighter jets hit Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels across Lebanon. 

Hezbollah, however, dismissed the Israeli army’s claims as "empty" and “baseless”. 

No plans to hit Ben Gurion airport 

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also delivered a speech on Sunday evening, shedding light on the movement’s military attack which he called “Arbaeen Operation”.  

Nasrallah said Hezbollah targeted an Israeli military intelligence base near Tel Aviv around 100 kilometers from Lebanon’s border.  

The "main target of the operation" inside Israel was "the Glilot base -- the main Israeli military intelligence base", he said.  

The Hezbollah chief added the resistance movement successfully hit the Israeli army’s 8200 intelligence unit in Glilot.  

He said Hezbollah had no plans to target Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport or the Israeli Defense Ministry building. 

Nasrallah added while the Lebanese resistance group had no intention to use precision-guided missiles in the Sunday attack, it may use them in the near future. 

Nasrallah also rejected Israeli claims that its army targeted Hezbollah’s missile launchers before the movement conducted its missile and drone attacks. 

The areas hit in Israel’s so-called preemptive strikes had nothing to do with the “Arbaeen Operation”, he remarked.

State of emergency 

Hezbollah’s attack also sent shockwaves throughout the Israeli establishment. 

On Sunday, Israel’s war minister Yoav Gallant declared a state of emergency for the next 48 hours, which allows the army to limit gatherings. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vowed to take all measures necessary to “defend” Israel.

Defending Israel is not an abstract concept. When Israel suffers humiliating blows at the hands of regional resistance groups, it massacres civilians under the pretext of self-defense. 

In line with such an excuse, Israel has killed more than 40,400 Palestinians, including more than 16,000 children since declaring war on Gaza on October 7.

Airlines cancel flights 

Fears of an escalation prompted international airlines to call off their flights to and from Israel. 

According to Israeli media, Air France, Etihad Airways and Aegean Airlines canceled flights to and from Ben Gurion airport.

The Haaretz newspaper said the airlines joined 16 others in announcing the discontinuation of flights. Some airlines have decided to do so until further notice.

Reactions also poured in after the latest round of fire exchange between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon PM: Stop Israeli aggression

Following a ministerial meeting, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said efforts are being made to “stop the escalation”. He added, “What is required is to stop the Israeli aggression first”.

Hamas hails Hezbollah 

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement expressed its support for Hezbollah’s “strong and focused” retaliatory attack, describing it as a “slap in the face” for Israel.

Hamas said Hezbollah’s strike sent a message that Israel’s “terrorism and crimes against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples will not go unanswered, and will not achieve its goals and aggressive plans”.

The Palestinian resistance group also said Israeli bombings of Lebanon, in which civilians have been killed, are a “blatant violation of all international charters and norms” and warned that the US is “fully responsible” for any repercussions.

Yemen praises Hezbollah’s “effective” response  

Yemen’s Ansarullah also congratulated Hezbollah for targeting Israel. 

“This powerful and effective response deep inside the entity that remains vulnerable reaffirms that the resistance is capable, steadfast, and sincere in its promises and threats,” Ansarullah’s political bureau said in a statement.

“We stand by the hands and shoulders of the heroes of the Islamic resistance, congratulate and support all options and retaliatory operations against the Zionist enemy.

“We also reaffirm that the Yemeni response is inevitably coming, and the coming days and nights and the battlefield will prove this.”

Israeli warmongering 

There have been almost daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah the day after the start of the Gaza war. 

Hezbollah carries out attacks on Israel in support of Palestinian people in Gaza. The movement has stressed that its strikes won’t stop unless the regime ends its genocidal war on Gaza. 

The latest Hezbollah attack on Israel has once again raised fears of an all-out regional war. 

Hezbollah has said it does not want to go to direct war with Israel but is prepared in case of such a scenario. 

Hezbollah military capabilities 

Hezbollah's military strength is underpinned by upwards of 150,000 missiles and rockets of various types and ranges.

The number of Hezbollah fighters who are ready to join a possible war against Israel has exceeded 100,000, according to the Hezbollah secretary general. 

The resistance movement has already fought off two Israeli wars against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. Hezbollah forced the Israeli army to retreat in both conflicts.

Israeli vulnerability 

Hezbollah has recently released video footage of sensitive Israeli military sites in areas such as the city of Haifa. Its drones have penetrated the Israeli air defenses and returned home undetected. This has highlighted Israel’s vulnerability and humiliated the regime which claims to be an invincible power in West Asia. 

Israeli officials have already exposed the regime’s extreme vulnerability. 

Israel unprepared for war

The head of the company responsible for planning Israel’s electrical systems warned in June that the regime is not prepared for the damage its electricity infrastructure would sustain if a full-scale war were to break out with Hezbollah

“We are not in a good situation, and we are not prepared for a real war. We are living in a fantasy,” Shaul Goldstein, who leads Israel’s Independent System Operator Ltd, known by its Hebrew initials NOGA, told Israeli media on June 21. 

He also said Israel’s power grid is vulnerable to a Hezbollah attack that could render it “uninhabitable” 72 hours later. 

For decades Israel has been living with the myth that it is unbeatable and untouchable. But the regime was totally humiliated after Hamas carried out a surprise military operation dubbed Al-Aqsa Storm in southern Israel on October 7. 

More than 10 months after the Al-Aqsa Storm, Hezbollah’s Sunday attack once again reminded the Netanyahu regime that its so-called invincible army is nothing more than a paper tiger.   

Hezbollah’s strike has also kept Israel on its toes. This is because the resistance movement hit targets deep inside Israel without using its strategic weapons.   

A Hezbollah drone also struck an Israeli warship which indicates that the Lebanese group is capable of getting involved in a hybrid war against the regime.  

From now on, Israel has to brace for more large-scale attacks from Lebanon and regional resistance groups if it continues to turn a blind eye to growing calls for ending the Gaza onslaught.  

The US and its Western allies must be held to account for the consequences of a regional escalation as they continue to support Israel despite the indescribable atrocities that it has committed in the Gaza Strip.

By Shahrokh Saei