75-rocket barrage hits northern Israel after IDF strike on Hezbollah arms depot rocks eastern Lebanon

No Israeli casualties in rocket attack on Golan Heights

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Hezbollah claimed it launched “intense rocket barrages” at two IDF posts on the Golan Heights on Tuesday morning in retaliation for Israeli strikes on weapons warehouses of the terror group in the Bekaa Valley, deep within Lebanese territory, the evening before.

Israel Defense Forces reported said about 55 launches were detected crossing into Israel’s Golan Heights on Tuesday morning. No casualties were reported, as most rockets were either intercepted or fell in open areas, causing several fires.

Israeli aircraft attacked one of the launchers used in the attack shortly after the launches, the IDF said.

بالفيديو: أول لحظات الغارات على #البقاع pic.twitter.com/LqrqEPUcxX
— كواليس بيروت - Kawalis Beirut (@KawalisBeirut) August 19, 2024

Some hours later, another 20 rockets were launched at the Western Galilee.

Israeli fighter jets had “attacked a number of ammunition depots” on Monday evening, according to the IDF statement, adding that secondary explosions after the strikes indicated “the presence of many weapons” there.

Lebanese state media said the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out at least three strikes in Lebanon’s northeastern Baalbek District, with footage showing several massive explosions and what appeared to be rockets flying off in all directions, after apparently being set off by the blast.

Eight people, including two Syrian children, were injured in the strikes, according to Lebanese reports. The reports didn’t specify whether they were wounded by the airstrikes, or by the secondary explosions and their fallout.

מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו לפני זמן קצר מספר מחסני אמל״ח של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב בקעא שבעומק לבנון.
לאחר התקיפות זוהו פיצוצי משנה המעידים על הימצאות של אמצעי לחימה רבים במחסנים שהותקפו>> pic.twitter.com/0S8US76irX
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 19, 2024

So far, Israel has carried out strikes in the Bekaa Valley only after particularly significant attacks from Hezbollah forces. The site of the attacks, near the town of Nabi Chit, is around 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Israeli border.

The strikes followed a deadly drone attack the day before, which killed IDF Chief Warrant Officer Mahmood Amaria (45), who served as a tracker in the 300th “Baram” Regional Brigade. Several soldiers were also wounded.

Since Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8 - in a show of solidarity with the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7 - 26 Israeli civilians and 19 IDF soldiers have been killed during the conflict near Israel's northern border with Lebanon. The terror group has officially admitted losing over 400 of its operatives in the fire exchanges within the same timeframe.

Shortly before the launch of the 55 rockets on Tuesday morning, the IDF said it struck two launchers in southern Lebanon that were about to be fired toward Israel.

On Monday, the IDF announced it had eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist in a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Deir Qanoun, and struck another terror cell in Taybeh.

Hezbollah later confirmed the strike in Deir Qanoun killed Hussein Suleiman, who was a prominent member of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit, according to the IDF.

The day before, three UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon “were lightly injured when an explosion occurred near their clearly marked U.N. vehicle in the vicinity of Yarine,” the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement, accusing Israel of the blast.

However, a UNIFIL source told AFP that the peacekeepers were wounded by shrapnel from a nearby explosion that had not directly targeted them.

Meanwhile, the looming failure of the hostage deal talks after Hamas rejected the latest U.S. proposal raises concerns, once again, that Hezbollah will now see itself “freed from the restrictions” of having to wait for the outcome of the talks.

Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV cited sources close to Hezbollah as saying the terror group “is ready” to respond to the killing of its military chief Fu’ad Shukr and only has “to determine the appropriate timing” for the attacks it has promised.