On Sunday, a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and seriously injured seven others, the Israeli military said, the second since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago. It was the deadliest attack by the extremist group.
Hezbollah claimed the attack near the city of Binyamina was in retaliation for Thursday’s Israeli attack on Beirut that left 22 people dead. It then targeted Israel’s elite Golani Brigade and announced it had captured Israel’s air defense system by firing dozens of missiles during an attack by a squadron of unmanned aircraft.
The Israeli National Rescue Service said 61 people were injured in the attack. Israel’s sophisticated air defense system makes it rare for air attacks to injure so many people, but for the past 12 years Israel has struggled to deal with Hezbollah’s newly deployed Iranian drones. month. They are difficult to detect because they are small and emit only a weak radar signal.
Since the war in Gaza began, Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in near-daily firefights and fighting has intensified.
The attack deepened US involvement in the crisis-hit region, following news that the US is sending the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense squadron to Israel, along with about 100 US troops. . The last time the United States sent such a missile system to the Middle East was shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 of last year. The Pentagon said THAAD was deployed to southern Israel for training in 2019, but that was the last and only confirmed deployment.
When asked why he decided to authorize the deployment, U.S. President Joe Biden said, “To protect Israel,” which is expected after Tehran fired more than 180 missiles at Israel on October 1. is considering retaliation.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the deployment follows “extensive coordination the U.S. military has made in recent months” to support Israel and protect U.S. military personnel from attacks by Iran and Iranian-backed groups. He explained that it was part of the process.
U.S. officials did not say how soon the system would be deployed to Israel, and an Israeli military spokesperson did not say when the system would arrive.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned earlier Sunday that the United States is “putting the lives of our soldiers at risk by deploying them to operate American missile systems in Israel.” “While we have made great efforts in recent days to contain all-out war in our region, we can say unequivocally that there is no red line that must be crossed to protect our people and interests,” Araghchi said. Posted on X.
A THAAD battery typically requires approximately 100 soldiers to operate. It counts six launchers mounted on a truck, each equipped with eight interceptors and a powerful radar.
Hezbollah threatened Israel early Monday with further attacks if its attacks in Lebanon continue.
In a statement, the group described the Binyamina attack as a “complex” operation in which dozens of missiles were fired toward Nahariya and Acre, north of Haifa, “with the aim of keeping Israel’s defense systems busy.” .
At the same time, it launched “a squadron of various unmanned aircraft,” some of which were being used for the first time, that were able to “pass undetected by Israeli air defense radars” and that They attacked a training camp in Binyamina to the south. .
A Hezbollah statement claimed that the explosion “detonated in a room where dozens of enemy Israeli officers and soldiers were present.” According to the IDF, the drone attacked the on-site cafeteria during dinner and penetrated the roof.
In Lebanon, several peacekeepers were arrested after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced Sunday that two Israeli tanks had destroyed a gate and forcibly entered a base in southern Lebanon. He condemned the attack, which injured troops, the spokesperson said. country. “UNIFIL peacekeepers remain in all positions and the United Nations flag continues to fly,” said President Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that Unifil personnel and their premises must never be targeted. Attacks on peacekeepers violate international law, including international humanitarian law. They may constitute war crimes. Yes,” he said.
The Israeli military said in a statement late Sunday that the Merkava tank was attempting to evacuate wounded soldiers when it accidentally retreated into the Unifil garrison while under fire amid a smoke screen.
In a video statement to Guterres on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his call for Israel to withdraw Unifil forces. “The time has come to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and combat areas,” he said. “The Israel Defense Forces have repeatedly requested this, but have been met with repeated denials, thereby providing a human shield to Hezbollah terrorists.”
He later said in X that “Israel will make every effort to prevent UNIFIL casualties and will do whatever it takes to win the war.”
Sunday morning’s incident in Ramya was the latest in a series of violations that Unifil, the UN force deployed in southern Lebanon since 1978, blames on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
At least 20 people, including school children, were killed in Israeli tank shelling in the Gaza Strip on Sunday night, according to two local hospitals. The school in Nuseirat sheltered some of the many Palestinians displaced by the war.
Meanwhile, an explosion in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al Bala early on Monday left at least four people dead and 40 injured.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
