Hezbollah targets Israeli intelligence base it blames for 'assassinations'
Hezbollah said it launched Katyusha rockets at a north Israel intelligence base it blamed for targeted killings, claiming its first attack after Israel launched a deadly strike on the group's south Beirut stronghold, a day after the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israel for the device blasts carnage.
The Iran-backed group said its fighters had targeted "the main intelligence headquarters in the northern region responsible for assassinations... with volleys of Katyusha rockets", adding the attack was "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks" on south Lebanon.
Hezbollah had earlier on Friday pounded northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights with 140 rockets, the Israeli military and the Lebanese group said.
Israel's military said the rockets came in three waves Friday afternoon targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
Following the attacks, the Israeli military said it had struck areas across southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah infrastructure but did not provide details of damage.
Hezbollah said its attacks had targeted several sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including multiple air defense bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armored brigade they said they'd struck for the first time.
The Israeli military said 120 missiles were launched at areas of the Golan Heights, Safad and the Upper Galilee, some of which were intercepted. Fire crews were working to extinguish blazes caused by pieces of debris that fell to the ground in several areas, the military said.
The military did not say whether any missiles had hit targets or caused any casualties.
Another 20 missiles were shot at the areas of Meron and Netua, and most fell in open areas, the military said, adding no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah said the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on villages and homes in southern Lebanon, not two days of attacks widely blamed on Israel that set off explosives in thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Israel-Hamas war's opening salvo, but Friday's rocket barrages were heavier than normal.
Nasrallah on Thursday vowed to keep up daily strikes on Israel despite this week's deadly sabotage of its members' communication devices, which he described as a "severe blow."
At least 37 were killed in the attacks and thousands were wounded when pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The sophisticated attacks have heightened fears that the cross-border exchanges of fire will escalate into all-out war. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attacks.
In recent days, Israel has moved a powerful fighting force up to the northern border, officials have escalated their rhetoric, and Israel's security Cabinet has designated the return of tens of thousands of displaced residents to their homes in northern Israel an official war goal.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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