TEHRAN — Iran on Monday praised the previous day’s drone and missile assault by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group on Israel, claiming the country had lost the ability to prevent such attacks.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday said the Iranian proxy group had launched a large-scale attack on Israel, targeting “the Glilot Base — the main Israeli military intelligence base.” The installation was not hit.
“The Zionist regime may be able to hide, distort or censor some facts regarding Lebanese Hezbollah operations, but it knows very well that the existing facts will not change,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani posted on X.
“The Israeli terrorist army has lost its effective offensive and deterrent power and now must defend itself against strategic strikes.”
Kanaani argued the Hezbollah attack “extended deep into the occupied territories,” and that the “strategic balance has undergone fundamental changes” to the detriment of Israel.
He also criticized the United States for its “comprehensive” support for Israel, which he said had failed to “predict the time and place” of Hezbollah’s actions.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday compared the attack to the Second Lebanon War, the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which Ghalibaf referred to as an Israeli defeat.
“Today’s defeat of the regime was on a par with the defeat in the 2006 operation, and they cannot hide this defeat,” he posted on X.
Israel on Sunday launched airstrikes into Lebanon, saying it had destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers and thwarted a major attack.
In a televised address, Nasrallah said his group had carried out a two-phased attack. Firstly, he claimed, the terror group fired over 320 Katyusha rockets on 11 different military sites to keep Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system busy, and then it launched dozens of drones directed at central Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said that the Hezbollah attack was “mostly” thwarted, and that no military bases were damaged in the attack, but a Navy sailor on a patrol boat was killed by shrapnel from an interceptor. It said the minority of Hezbollah rockets that impacted caused damage to homes and lightly injured at least one person.
The IDF also indicated that none of the drones impacted central Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting that “the IDF intercepted all the drones that Hezbollah launched at strategic targets in the center of the country.”
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 430 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 73 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Fears grew of a wider regional conflagration after the assassinations last month of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Iran and its allies Hamas and Hezbollah have accused Israel of being behind both killings and vowed to seek revenge. Israel claimed responsibility for the airstrike that killed Shukr but has remained silent regarding Haniyeh.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X late Sunday that Tehran’s reaction to Haniyeh’s death would be “definitive, and will be measured [and] well calculated.”
“We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it — unlike Israel,” he added.
Hezbollah said its attack on Sunday was an “initial response” to Shukr’s killing, but Nasrallah appeared to suggest in his address that the group’s retaliation had concluded.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.