Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel reach record high in August

Kiryat Shmona mayor laments spreading destruction in his town

The daily attacks by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah on Israeli targets since Oct. 7 reached a high point during August, despite a short, temporary lull after Israel's pre-emptive airstrike last week.

According to Army Radio, statistics compiled by Israel’s domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, revealed that 1,307 rockets were fired upon Israel on the northern front, which includes Lebanon and Syria – an average of approximately 40 per day.

This marks the culmination of a steady rise in rocket attacks since the start of the year.

In July, 1,091 rockets were fired at Israel, compared to 855 in June, 1,000 in May, 744 in April, 746 in March, 534 in February, and 334 in January.

The large majority of rockets were fired from Lebanon as opposed to Syria. In August, an additional 116 rockets were launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah launched the majority of rockets, with several other terror groups such as the Hamas branch in Lebanon, and the Amal movement participating in the attacks.

According to Army Radio, the rise in attacks by Hezbollah corresponds to an increase in IDF airstrikes targeting and eliminating Hezbollah terrorists. In August, 51 operatives from various organizations, mostly Hezbollah, were killed – a significant increase compared to previous months.

Israel’s Alma Research Center reported that overall, Hezbollah and other organizations carried out 281 attacks against Israel, an average of around 9 attacks per day.

These attacks were carried out using a variety of weapons, including rockets, anti-tank missiles, drones and artillery fire. In August, three Israelis were killed by Hezbollah, and 30 others were wounded to varying degrees.

The city of Kiryat Shmona has been one of the primary targets of Hezbollah attacks. Since its residents were evacuated last October, the city has endured 124 separate rocket attacks, with over 370 Grad, Burkan, and Falaq-type rockets used in the barrages, according to Alma.

The mayor of Kiryat Shmona, Avichai Stern, informed Ynet News that many homes have been destroyed.

“Unfortunately, every day we have to tell more families that they will not have a home to return to. There are houses that need to be demolished and rebuilt.”

“We need to get to a point where [Hezbollah] are afraid to fire at Kiryat Shmona,” he demanded.