More than 200 rockets from Lebanon's Hezbollah rain down on Israel

Beatrice Farhat

Jul 4, 2024

Smoke rises after a strike near a military base in northern Israel by a rocket fired by Hezbollah, July 4, 2024. — Amir Levy/Getty Images

BEIRUT — Hezbollah said on Thursday that it had fired more than 200 rockets and launched a swarm of drones into northern Israel in response to the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander a day earlier, the Lebanese movement's largest such attack since cross-border hostilities began last October.

Amid fears of an all-out war that could involve other Iran-backed groups in the region, Hezbollah claimed in a statement to have struck several Israeli settlements and five military bases — in Eilat, Gamla, Katzrin, Nafah and Yarden — in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

The group stated that its attacks were also in response to ongoing Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon and the killing of Hezbollah member Mohammad Neameh Nasser, also known as Hajj Abu Neameh.

Nasser, whom Israel described as the commander of Hezbollah’s Aziz Unit, which is responsible for rocket and anti-tank missile attacks on Israel from southwestern Lebanon, was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike in the southern city of Tyre, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border.