By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army reported Wednesday that it identified 90 rockets within less than 10 minutes that were launched from Lebanon.
“Following the sirens that sounded between 16:41 - 16:49 in the areas of the Upper Galilee, Western Galilee, and southern Golan Heights, approximately 90 projectile launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” according to a military statement. “Some of the projectiles were intercepted, and fallen projectiles were identified.”
The army claimed separately it struck and destroyed the launchers used to target the cities of Safed and Shlomi, as well as the settlement of Kiryat Shmona.
“Earlier today, an Israeli Navy missile ship successfully intercepted a UAV outside of Israeli territory that was approaching from Lebanon,” it said.
Israeli Army Radio, meanwhile, reported that a building in Safed in the Upper Galilee was hit by a rocket, causing a fire, with no immediate reports of casualties.
Earlier Wednesday, the Radio confirmed that two Israelis were killed by rockets fired by Hezbollah at Kiryat Shmona.
The reports come as Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23 that have killed more than 1,323 people, injured nearly 3,700, and displaced more than 1.2 million.
The aerial campaign is an escalation in a year-long 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 2,141 people have since been killed and 10,099 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 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio