Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon launched more than 50 rockets at the northern Israeli city of Katzrin in the Golan Heights on Wednesday morning, moderately injuring a man and causing damage to homes.
The attack came hours after the Israel Defense Forces carried out a series of airstrikes in Lebanon, while targeting Hezbollah weapon depots deep in the country.
According to the IDF, a barrage of some 50 rockets was launched in the attack on Katzrin, with most of the rockets being intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.
Several rockets hit the city, causing heavy damage to homes and injuring one person.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said the man in his 30s sustained shrapnel injuries from a direct rocket strike on his house. He was taken to Ziv Medical Center in Safed in moderate condition, MDA said.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the rocket barrage, claiming in a statement that it had targeted a nearby military base.
The terror group said it launched several volleys of Katyusha rockets at the base in the Golan Heights in response to an IDF strike deep in eastern Lebanon overnight.
Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah weapons depots in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon’s northeastern Baalbek District, the military said, for the second straight night.
The IDF said secondary explosions were identified after the strikes, “indicating the presence of weapons in the warehouses that were attacked.”
Additionally, the military said a site used by Hezbollah’s air defense unit, which “posed a threat” to Israeli aircraft, was also struck in the Baalbek area.
Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold, is located some 100 kilometers from the Israeli border.
The IDF accused Hezbollah of putting military assets within populated areas, in a “cynical exploitation of Lebanese citizens,” after the Lebanese health ministry said one person was killed and at least 20 were wounded in the strikes.
Several more IDF strikes were carried out in southern Lebanon on Tuesday night.
The military said the targets included a rocket launcher in Abu Shash, used in an earlier attack on the northern Israeli community of Ya’ara; a Hezbollah operative in the Hamoul area; a Hezbollah operative in Beit Lif; and buildings used by the terror group in Ayta ash-Shab, Ramyeh, and Tallouseh.
Hezbollah announced the deaths of four members following Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire for over 10 months.
The region has been bracing for a major escalation in violence for more than two weeks, since Israel killed Hezbollah’s military chief Fuad Shukr and was blamed for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, drawing promises of retaliation from both Iran and its Lebanese proxy.
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 against the Hamas terror group there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 19 IDF soldiers and reservists.
Hezbollah has named 419 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 72 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.