A Hezbollah anti-tank guided missile attack launched from Lebanon late Sunday wounded two members of the security team of the northern community of Metula, one of them seriously, the military said Monday.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, two anti-tank missiles were fired in the attack. Hezbollah took responsibility, claiming to have targeted a military vehicle in the town.
One of the local security officers, in his 40s, was seriously wounded, while the other, in his 30s, was listed in good condition, Rambam Hospital in Haifa said.
Amid the war, members of civilian emergency response teams in northern border communities have been drafted into the military as reservists. While tens of thousands of people have evacuated northern communities to escape danger, some have opted to stay put.
The missile fire came at the tail end of a day of Hezbollah drone attacks on northern Israel. In one of the attacks, an IDF soldier was seriously wounded.
Meanwhile, fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight, the IDF said Monday morning.
The military said the sites included a building used by Hezbollah in Aitaroun, along with other infrastructure in Kafr Kila and Khiam.
Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have been ratcheting up, especially after an Israeli airstrike targeted Taleb Abdullah, the terror group’s commander for the central region of the southern border strip and its most senior commander killed in the current war.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the terror group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid Israel’s war against Hamas.
So far, the skirmishes on the northern border have resulted in 10 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 15 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 349 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 64 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border, with tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes in the north due to the rocket and drone attacks, and has warned that should a diplomatic solution not be reached it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.
While the political echelon has not yet made a decision on launching an offensive in Lebanon and turning the Gaza Strip into the secondary front, the IDF has said it continues to target Hezbollah commanders who were behind attacks on Israel.