Tel Aviv: Israel intercepts Hezbollah ballistic missile near country’s economic center, first such attack

CNN
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Israel intercepted a missile fired by Hezbollah near Tel Aviv on Wednesday, an unprecedented attack by the militant group that hit the country’s commercial heartlands and marked a new stage of escalation in the conflict between the two sides.

Residents of Tel Aviv and the central city of Netanya woke to the sound of sirens on Wednesday as Israel announced that its air defenses had intercepted a surface-to-surface missile – the first time a missile fired by Hezbollah has reached the city, the Israeli military said.

No damage or casualties were immediately reported.

The Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has confirmed it launched a Qadr 1 ballistic missile targeting the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, which it accuses of attacks targeting its members, including the coordinated explosions of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies last week.

It was reportedly the first ballistic missile launched by Hezbollah toward Israel, and was fired “in support of our determined Palestinian people in Gaza” and to “defend Lebanon and its people,” Hezbollah said.

The Israeli military said the missile was intercepted near Tel Aviv, a city of more than 4 million people on the Mediterranean coast, and the air force struck its launcher in the Nafakhiyeh region of southern Lebanon.

“Following sirens that sounded in the Tel Aviv and Netanya areas, a surface-to-surface missile was identified coming from Lebanon and was intercepted by the IDF’s air defense network,” the Israeli military said.

Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani described the missile as “heavy” and “long-range.”

“This is the first time that Hezbollah has fired in the direction of Tel Aviv,” he said.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly said that any Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital would result in an attack on Israel’s economic center.

The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah continued on Wednesday.

At least 19 people were killed in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the Public Health Ministry. Most of the deaths were reported in the south of the country, but three others were reported in a mountain village north of Beirut.

It comes as the Israeli military said it had launched “massive strikes” against Hezbollah in the south and east of the country.

The Israeli military told CNN it had struck more than 100 targets in Lebanon so far on Wednesday.

According to the Israeli army, about 40 projectiles crossed the border between Lebanon and Israel on Wednesday morning. Several were intercepted, but one of them hit a retirement home in northern Israel, without causing any injuries.

Since the start of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas last October, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones from Lebanon toward northern Israel.

About 60,000 people have been evacuated from northern Israel due to cross-border fighting. Israel has said the fighting will continue until residents can safely return home.

The missile interception comes days after Israeli strikes against Hezbollah killed more than 500 people in Lebanon, including dozens of children. Monday was the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly two decades.

Flights at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport continued as usual on Wednesday, an airport spokesman said.

Sirens were heard in Netanya on Wednesday for the first time since October 7, 2023, according to Israeli authorities.

In recent days, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged waves of airstrikes and rocket attacks, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes in southern Lebanon.

Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah positions and infrastructure, believed to be located in residential areas. One of its strikes killed a senior commander, Ibrahim Qubaisi, on Tuesday. The Israeli military said Qubaisi commanded several Hezbollah missile units and was killed along with two other commanders in southern Beirut.

Residents who fled their homes in Lebanon said residential areas had been razed and entire towns emptied. One man told CNN he witnessed “incessant shelling from all directions,” which he described as “indiscriminate bombing.”

The UN children’s agency UNICEF has warned that many children remain “missing under the rubble” and stranded “on dangerous roads” following Israeli airstrikes.

At least 558 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Monday, including 50 children and 94 women, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said. The number of children killed in the country on Monday in a single day was higher than in the entire past year, Ettie Higgins, UNICEF’s deputy representative for Lebanon, told a UN briefing.

Lebanese hospitals are struggling with the influx of wounded and transport to hospitals is difficult, with roads clogged with people trying to flee Israeli strikes. British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah said the health system was “very, very fragile” because it could not handle more than 2,000 wounded in two days.

“We received children with unfortunately the same types of injuries that I used to see in Gaza,” Abu-Sittah told CNN. “Blast wounds to the face, amputations of limbs, multiple shrapnel wounds, crush injuries from houses being demolished on them.”

About half a million people have been displaced in Lebanon, the country’s foreign minister said Tuesday, and that number is expected to rise.

Om Hussein’s family is among thousands who have fled the south of the country. They spent 14 hours on the road to Beirut, stuck in congested streets, and said they had no time to collect clothes or medicine. “We had no food or water, but volunteers on motorbikes distributed water to those stuck in cars,” she told CNN.

The Israeli military on Wednesday warned displaced residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes, vowing to accelerate its “offensive operations” against Hezbollah without respite.

Israeli troops have conducted exercises simulating ground combat in Lebanon, which the army has not ruled out.

This is a developing story and will be updated.