Israel and Hezbollah both claim victory in an intense exchange of attacks
LA TimesA woman in Acre, Israel, on Sunday stands in the doorway of a damaged house following an attack from Lebanon. Israel launched what it called preemptive strikes into Lebanon early Sunday to thwart an attack by the militant group Hezbollah, which still managed to lob hundreds of rockets and drones targeting military sites deep in Israeli territory. Its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said in a televised speech Sunday that the attack was meant as vengeance for Israel’s assassination last month of Hezbollah senior military commander Fuad Shukr. “Three weeks ago, we eliminated its chief of staff and today we thwarted its attack plan.” In an address to Israeli officers, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We hit the enemy before it launched and threw it off balance.” Adding that Israel had been “very, very successful” in neutralizing Hezbollah’s assets, he explained: “In other words, by attacking thousands of targets, we prevented the launch of hundreds of rockets.” In a televised address later Sunday, Nasrallah dismissed those claims, saying the operation had proceeded as planned and that Israel’s missiles had “no effect whatsoever.” He added the initial barrage overwhelmed Israeli interceptor defense systems and allowed drones to continue to their intended targets: the Glilot base in a northern suburb of Tel Aviv and another base he did not name located 46 miles from Lebanon’s border. In his address, Nasrallah said the latest Hezbollah attack on Israel had been delayed to “give the negotiations a chance.” A wider confrontation with Hezbollah would plunge Israel into a multi-front war with an adversary many times stronger than Hamas.