An Israeli military leader this morning said the nation’s forces were able to stop at least part of a planned Hezbollah attack in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of a top Hezbollah commander last month.
In a briefing today, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants had been preparing to launch an extensive rocket attack against northern Israel using thousands of rocket launchers. The operation was to begin at 5 a.m., he said, before it was thwarted, in part, by Israel’s preemptive charge.
Israel’s assault included 100 aircraft that targeted thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in 40 launch areas, Shoshani said.
Hezbollah carried on with its mission, he said, firing hundreds of rockets and UAVs toward northern Israel and without omitting areas with homes and civilians.
“This is a part of a larger attack that was planned,” Shoshani said, “and we were able to thwart a big part of it.”
Hezbollah said in a statement earlier today that it hit 11 targets, all military bases, barracks or artillery positions.
Shoshani made clear that Israel saw the Hezbollah plans as a serious threat on its civilian population. “Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah’s attacks on our civilians, and we keep the right to defend our people,” the lieutenant colonel said.
He said it wasn’t yet clear if Hezbollah was done with its attack as planned. “We’re still assessing,” he said.
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