Many soldiers injured as Hezbollah attacks military command headquarters in western Israel

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Several Israeli army soldiers were injured in a Hezbollah attack on a military command headquarters in western Israel, the Lebanon-based resistance group said in a statement on Sunday, which was also confirmed by Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah said its fighters “attacked with drones a new command headquarters for the enemy army south of the Yara barracks in the western region,” according to the group’s Al-Manar channel.

“The air attack on the enemy army headquarters hit its targets accurately and caused a number of injuries among its soldiers,” it added.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed the attack in a statement, claiming that only “two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were moderately injured and several others were slightly injured as a result of shrapnel and smoke inhalation.”

“The soldiers were evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital and their families were informed,” he added.

The spokesman noted that “following the alerts that were activated in the Western Galilee area, hostile aircraft were detected that crossed from Lebanon to Israeli territory, the air defense fighters successfully intercepted two targets.”

“Fighter jets of the Air Force completed a short time ago an extensive wave of attacks on targets of the ‘terrorist’ organization Hezbollah in Lebanese territory,” he said.

Hagari stressed that the Israeli army “continues to attack targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanese territory.”

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tensions came amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi