A view shows damage after what security sources said was a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, on July 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The Israeli Army said on July 30 it had struck around 10 Hezbollah targets overnight in seven different areas of south Lebanon, killing one fighter from the Iran-backed militant group.
The Army also “struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility, terror infrastructure sites, military structures and a launcher in southern Lebanon”, the Army said.
The strikes came after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a Druze Arab town in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Saturday and killed 12 children aged between 10 and 16.
The Druze, who follow an offshoot of Shiite Islam, are an Arabic-speaking community present in Israel, Lebanon and Syria, including the Golan.
On a visit to Majdal Shams on July 29, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel would deliver a “severe response” to the strike.
Israel says the rocket that killed the children was an Iranian-made Falaq and was fired by its ally Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for firing the rocket though it clamed multiple launches towards Israel on July 27.
Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been engaged in near-daily clashes along the border since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.
The violence has so far killed 22 soldiers and 24 civilians on the Israeli side, including in the Golan, according to Army figures.
At least 527 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, according to an AFP tally. Most have been fighters, but the toll includes at least 104 civilians.
The Gaza war broke out when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still captive in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed 39,400 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.
