19000 missiles target Israel
A large-scale rocket attack was directed at northern Israel June 12 in the most extensive attack to date by the terrorist group Hezbollah since October 7.
Together, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels and other terrorist groups have launched more than 19,000 rockets at Israel since October 7.
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The photo shows the devastation in Ashkelon after a missile from Gaza at the very beginning of the war that Hamas started on October 7. Photo: Jamal Awad/Flash90
The Israeli military counted over 200 missiles during the day, several being shot down, while others caused fires on the ground. Hezbollah justified the attack by the killing of their general Taleb Sami Abdullah in a recent Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.
The terror group vowed to increase its attacks in retaliation for Israel’s elimination of its most senior commander so far in the ongoing war. At the commander’s funeral in Beirut, the high-ranking Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said the group would increase the intensity, power and volume of its operations against Israel, reports The Times of Israel.
Abdullah had been behind numerous attacks on northern Israel over the past eight months, mainly against the city of Kiryat Shmona, the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights, says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
In the evening hours before his death, Abdullah ordered a rocket attack on the Kiryat Shmona area where Israelis had gathered to celebrate Shavuot.
The day after Hamas’ October 7 attack, Hezbollah launched almost daily attacks on Israeli communities and military posts along the border, in support of Hamas and several more have been launched from Syria.
Five times stronger
Hezbollah is about five times stronger than Hamas. This applies both to the number of rockets, their explosive power and range, and the number of fighters, says Jonathan Conricus, who was spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces last fall.
Israel has not yet made a decision to launch an offensive in Lebanon and make the Gaza Strip the secondary front, but the IDF says it’s continuing to target Hezbollah commanders who are behind the attacks on Israel.
The latest demonstration of Hezbollah’s capabilities which have intensified in recent weeks represents only a small part of the Iran-backed terror group’s arsenal, Ynet News reports.
The IDF believes that Hezbollah possesses a range of precision weapons supplied mainly by Iran during the past decade, or weapons that have undergone upgrades and modifications based on lessons learned from the conflict. Israel is also preparing to defend itself against “swarms” of Hezbollah drones.
More than 19000 rockets
Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi rebels and other terrorist groups have fired more than 19,000 rockets at Israel since the Oct 7 massacre in southern Israel, the IDF said on June 10.
Most were fired from the Gaza Strip, although rocket attacks from Lebanon have increased steadily in recent months. IDF data only includes missiles entering Israeli territory.
On October 21, two weeks after Hamas launched its attack, the IDF noted that one in five rockets fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad are misguided and land in Gaza. Hamas has also admitted that some of its rockets failed.
In late May, former presidential candidate Nikki Haley visited southern Israel where she pointed out Iran, Russia and China as responsible for the October 7 Hamas massacre. The massacre was “orchestrated by Iran, supported by Russian intelligence and fueled by money from China,” the former US ambassador to the UN told reporters in Sderot.
Iran supplies the terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels with money, training and weapons.