Israel reports Hezbollah rocket fire amid Lebanon assault

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – Israel reported the launch of rocket salvos by the Lebanese group Hezbollah on Tuesday as Tel Aviv pressed ahead with its air and ground attacks on Lebanon.

A military statement said around 85 rockets were fired towards Haifa and Krayot settlement in northern Israel with some of the projectiles intercepted.

The army said another wave of 20 rockets was launched at Haifa, causing damage to several homes. A woman was injured by shrapnel.

Israeli police also reported damage to some buildings in Haifa’s suburbs, including Kiryat Yam and Kiryat Motzkin.

Hezbollah, for its part, confirmed the rocket fire on Haifa and Krayot settlement, saying the attacks were in response to “Israel’s brutal assaults on Lebanese civilians, villages and towns.”

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,250 people, injuring 3,618 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.

The aerial campaign was an escalation in yearlong cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 42,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

At least 2,083 people have since been killed and 9,869 others injured in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar

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