Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at key Israeli bases after airstrikes
Hezbollah shelled a military base in Israel's Ga'aton with dozens of Katyusha rockets and launched a second attack with guided missiles on the Meron air control base in what it said were responses to Israeli attacks on southern Lebanese towns.
The Ga'aton base lies around nine kilometers from the border with Lebanon and the attack is the first to target it since the beginning of hostilities.
The Israeli army said that "approximately 20 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon... some of which were successfully intercepted."
It added that an anti-tank missile had been fired towards Meron without causing harm. The army was "currently striking Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon," it said.
Israeli airstrikes later targeted an area between the southern towns of Yater and Siddiqin, the town of Kherbet Selem and the outskirts of Taybeh and Deir Seryan.
Israel had earlier in the day struck two towns deep in south Lebanon, one of which lies near the city of Sidon and the other near the city of Nabatieh. It said the attacks were in retaliation to a morning attack on the Meron base.
Hezbollah said the first Meron attack was in response to a deadly Israeli airstrike a day earlier near the eastern city of Baalbek, some 100 kilometers away from the Israeli border.
Since October 8, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire. At least 284 people have been killed on the Lebanese side since fighting erupted, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 44 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed according to the Israeli army.
The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has repeatedly warned that it might use bigger force against Hezbollah to secure its residents' return.
Source: Naharnet
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