Repeated blows on the Iron Dome! How was the famous air defense system attacked?
Fears are growing that a new war could break out on the northern front, where fires have been burning since the weekend. Forest fires sparked by a barrage of Hezbollah missiles and kamikaze drones have engulfed northern Israel, intensifying the conflict along the border.
Israeli occupation forces retaliated against the forest fires with airstrikes, hitting a number of targets in Lebanon’s largest militant group, Hezbollah, in the middle of the night.
Huge fires broke out in Nabatiyeh and the sky lit up after jet bombings, and Israeli media reported that a Hezbollah arms depot had been blown up in the village of Knin, six kilometers inside the border.
Lebanese media reported an Israeli attack on a motorbike in the town of Aytarn, neighboring Knin, that left one person dead and one wounded and was presumed to have targeted Hezbollah militias.
War Messages on the Border
There have been a number of high-ranking visits to the Israeli-Lebanese border since the start of the week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chief of Staff Helgi Halevi and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir came to the border to deliver a message of war.
General Brick: War with Hezbollah would bring terrible destruction to Israel
As Tel Aviv hawks prepare to attack Lebanon again for the first time in 18 years, Israeli General Yitzhak Buriq has warned that a major war targeting Hezbollah could bring terrible destruction to Israel.
Retired General Buriq, whose analysis was published in the Maariv newspaper, wrote that at a time when pressure was growing to declare war on Lebanon, those who called were unaware of the dire situation of the Israeli army.
Yitzhak Blick stressed that Netanyahu, his chief of staff Halevi and Defense Minister Yoav Galant have nothing to lose and are ready to gamble on the fate of Israel, noting that it will take at least two years for the army to attack Hezbollah, whose militia numbers more than 60,000.
War Minister Benny Gantz told mayors of settlements on the Lebanese border to prepare for more difficult days, possibly even war. Gantz warned that current tensions could hurt Israel, according to Israeli TV Channel 12 news.
Two separate images of the iron dome
Hezbollah is estimated to have 150,000 short- and long-range missiles and was not defeated by Israeli forces in the last war in 2006. As a result of the 34-day war, Israel failed to achieve its goal of expelling Hezbollah from Lebanon.
The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah has been fighting Israeli forces since October 8, but most of its attacks have not crossed the border and it attacked two separate Iron Dome air defense systems within days of each other.
Footage emerged of a kamikaze drone attack on the Iron Dome air defense system in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, followed by the destruction of an Iron Dome in Ramot Naftali near the Lebanese border.
A video recording shared by Hezbollah shows that Ramot Naftali’s air defense system was apparently hit with a guided missile.
Examining the two videos together offers a clue as to how Hezbollah destroyed the Iron Dome: The Lebanese group first attacks an area where the air defense system is located with rockets, which activates the Iron Dome.
Meanwhile, a launched suicide drone or guided missile advances at low altitude and manages to reach Iron Dome.
Hezbollah has lost more than 300 of its members in the border clashes, now in their eighth month. Dozens of civilians, including children, women and journalists, have also been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
On the Israeli side, 15 soldiers were killed in the Hezbollah attack, including a high-ranking commander.
The Israeli army announced this morning that another soldier was killed in a Hezbollah kamikaze drone attack in the Druze-populated town of Hulufesh. Hezbollah reported that it attacked an Israeli military base in Hulufesh on Wednesday, leaving more than 10 soldiers seriously wounded.
The Israeli army also announced it would postpone plans to reduce local security forces in some northern towns.
The plan was shelved for several weeks. The local security forces referred to in the official statement are in fact the name given to reserve soldiers of the Israeli army.
