Israel, Hezbollah exchange heavy fire in major Mideast escalation

Israel fired dozens of rockets into southern Lebanon after Hezbollah launched hundreds of missiles and drones against Israeli military targets early Sunday, in an escalation that drove fears of an an all-out Mideast war to new heights.
About 100 Israeli fighter jets “struck and eliminated thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels, aimed for immediate fire toward northern and central Israel,” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on X. “More than 40 Hezbollah launch areas were struck,” it said.
Iran-backed Hezbollah’s attack on Israeli military positions came in response of the killing last month of one of its leaders, Fouad Shukur, who was targeted by an Israeli raid in a suburb of Beirut.
Israel’s airstrike on Lebanon Sunday left at least three people dead, though the full extent of the casualties and damage is still impossible to determine, the Associated Press reported.
Sunday’s strikes represent the biggest exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah since the hostilities began in the wake of the Hamas militant group’s raid on Israel last October and the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip that followed.
“We are determined to do everything possible to defend our country, to return the residents of the north safely to their homes and to continue to uphold a simple rule: Whoever harms us — we harm him,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday morning.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military “acted after definitively identifying a large-scale planned attack of missiles and drones by the Hezbollah terrorist organization against targets in Israel.” Katz has been in contact dozens of foreign ministers worldwide to shore up support for Israel in its fight against Hezbollah, he wrote on X.
Hezbollah issued a statement saying Sunday’s military operation has been successfully completed, according to local media. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah plans to address this morning’s strikes in a televised session Sunday evening.