With region braced for escalation, Hezbollah risks explosion with unsuccessful drone attack on Israeli offshore gas rig

Navy corvette shoots down drone over the sea, Iran warns Israel against striking

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The IDF stated on Monday evening that a drone launched by Hezbollah against an Israeli offshore gas rig was intercepted by the Israeli Navy over the Mediterranean Sea.

For the second time in three days, a Sa’ar 6-class corvette used the Iron Dome’s sea variant, dubbed “C-Dome,” to shoot down a drone targeting the gas infrastructure off the Israeli coast.

מוקדם יותר היום ספינת טילים של זרוע הים מסוג ״סער 6״ של שייטת 3 בשיתוף חיל האוויר, יירטה כלי טיס בלתי מאויש שעשה את דרכו משטח לבנון במרחב המים הכלכליים של ישראל pic.twitter.com/KHQlrzje2C
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 29, 2024

On Saturday morning, a similar attack had targeted the Karish gas field.

A successful attack by Hezbollah on a sensitive energy-related target, such as a gas rig, would be unprecedented. The repeated attempts prove that Hezbollah is willing to risk a much-feared escalation into an all-out war, which seems closer than ever after the deadly rocket strike in Majdal Shams.

While the Israeli Cabinet has approved a significant response to the Hezbollah attack, Israel Defense Forces, so far, has not carried out strikes that surpass the intensity it showed over the past months.

Earlier on Monday, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen news site reported that two people were killed and three injured in an Israeli drone strike. The terror group confirmed two of its operatives were eliminated.

The IDF later released footage of the strike that targeted a car and a motorcycle near Shaqra.

במהלך היום, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר בשיתוף אוגדה 210, תקפו תשתית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בכפר חמאם, ממנה בוצעו שיגורים למרחב הר דב>> pic.twitter.com/mloCWp4R1a
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 29, 2024

Hezbollah later fired a barrage of some 20 rockets at the Gomeh Junction area, just south of Kiryat Shmona, in response to the strike.

In the evening, Lebanese media reported another drone strike on a vehicle in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Roummane, which reportedly wounded four people.

Meanwhile, a Hezbollah official told the Associated Press that the group had begun moving around some of its precision-guided missiles in preparation for massive Israeli strikes, which it would seek to answer in kind.

The Iranian regime, Hezbollah’s main patron, continued to threaten Israel on Monday in an attempt to avert the expected heavy retaliation for the death of the 12 Druze children in Majdal Shams on Saturday.

Newly-appointed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron: “Any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon will have serious consequences for Israel,” according to Iran’s state media.