Hezbollah fires rockets at Haifa area; drones wound 2 troops in north Israel, 1 in Lebanon

Soldier seriously wounded, another moderately by explosive UAV in north, 3rd soldier injured in south Lebanon attack; 4 killed in IDF Lebanon strike after evacuation warning

Despite a fragile ceasefire, Hezbollah fired a barrage of several rockets at northern Israel on Friday, triggering sirens that sent tens of thousands running for shelter in the Western Galilee and Haifa Bay area, with no reports of injuries.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, one of the rockets was intercepted by air defenses, while the others struck open areas.

The military called the rocket fire “another violation of the ceasefire understandings by the Hezbollah terror organization.”

The attack came shortly after the IDF warned it expected Hezbollah rocket fire on the north in response to the killing of Ahmed Ghaleb Balout, the chief of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force in Beirut on Wednesday, who the military said had advanced plans to invade the Galilee.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the rocket fire, claiming to have targeted an Israeli military base south of Nahariya, and confirming that it was a response to the strike that targeted Balout.

The Israeli Air Force subsequently struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher used in the barrage, according to the military, publishing footage of the strike.

As of Friday afternoon, there were no changes to the Home Front Command’s guidelines for civilians.

Meanwhile, three soldiers were wounded, including one seriously, by explosive drones launched by Hezbollah, the military said.

In one incident, the IDF said a Hezbollah drone exploded in Israeli territory, close to the border with Lebanon, seriously wounding one soldier and moderately injuring another.

An additional soldier was moderately injured in a separate incident, in which several explosive drones struck near Israeli forces deployed in southern Lebanon.

The IDF said the wounded troops were taken to hospitals and their families were notified.

Several more rockets and mortars were launched by Hezbollah at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon throughout the day, with the IDF reporting that one projectile was intercepted by air defenses, and no injuries were caused.

The terror group claimed responsibility for the explosive drone and rocket attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon. The terror group’s statement did not mention the drone attack that wounded troops in northern Israel.

The continued clashes have underlined challenges facing US efforts to forge peace between Israel and Lebanon, which held rare face-to-face talks last month. The Hezbollah terror group has fiercely objected to the government’s decision to hold negotiations with Israel.

Despite the ceasefire reached between Israel and Lebanon in mid-April, which has since been extended into May, Hezbollah has fired rockets and drones at northern Israeli communities, though most attacks have been on troops in southern Lebanon or on the Israeli side of the border.

Lebanon reports deaths in Israeli strikes

An Israeli strike after an evacuation warning on Friday killed four people, including two women, in the southern Lebanon town of Toura, the Lebanese health ministry said, as state media and AFP correspondents reported Israel was conducting widespread strikes.

Earlier in the day, the IDF issued evacuation warnings for six villages in southern Lebanon, including Toura, ahead of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah.

Separately, Lebanon’s civil defense said an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed a member of the rescue organization Friday morning, with Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency identifying him as Hafez Yahya, from Kfar Shouba.

In a statement, the civil defense said Yahya was killed “as a result of an Israeli strike that targeted him” on the road between Kfar Shouba and Kfar Hamam in southern Lebanon.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the incident.

The latest round of fighting erupted in Lebanon when Hezbollah began attacking across the border after Israel and the US launched their joint campaign against Iran on February 28.

Israel launched massive airstrikes in Lebanon in response to the terror group’s rocket barrages, and launched an operation in southern Lebanon to establish a buffer zone to protect residents of Israel’s north.

Over 2,700 people have been killed and about a million displaced in Lebanon since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities. The IDF claims it has killed over 1,900 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the elite Radwan Force.

Seventeen IDF soldiers and one Defense Ministry civilian contractor have been killed in southern Lebanon amid fighting against Hezbollah. Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.