Hezbollah Strikes Israeli Surveillance Base in Response to Hamas Leader's Assassination
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement launched a retaliatory strike on Israel's Meron Aerial Surveillance Base with 62 missiles, marking its first response to Tel Aviv's assassination of Hamas deputy political leader Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri.
“At 08:10 AM on Saturday, January 6, 2024, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted the Meron Aerial Surveillance Base with 62 missiles of various types, inflicting direct and confirmed hits,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
The movement described the operation “as a preliminary response” to the Israeli assassination of “great leader Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri and his martyr brothers” in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.
The base, a key center for administration, surveillance, and air control in the northern occupied territories, witnessed direct and confirmed hits in the attack.
“It is one of two principal bases in the entire usurping entity, the other being Mitzpe Ramon in the south,” it said.
The strike comes in the aftermath of the targeted killing of al-Arouri in southern Beirut, a terrorist act attributed to Israel. Hezbollah's operation triggeed sirens in northern Israeli-occupied cities, including Shtula, Abirim, Netu’a, Karmiel, and Safed, as settlers were warned of incoming rockets.
The Meron Aerial Surveillance Base, identified as one of two principal bases in the Israeli entity, became the focal point of Hezbollah's retaliation. The ongoing exchange of fire along the southern Lebanese border, primarily involving Israeli forces and Hezbollah, has heightened tensions since Tel Aviv invaded Gaza in October.
Hezbollah Secretary General Seyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a previous warning, had pledged a swift response "on the battlefield" following the assassination of al-Arouri. The Israeli military reported approximately 40 rocket launches from Lebanese territory on Saturday morning, resulting in air raid sirens in northern occupied Palestine and the occupied Golan Heights.
Nasrallah accused Israel of concealing its true number of losses, asserting that at least 2,000 Israeli soldiers have been wounded on the Lebanese border since October 8. Nasrallah emphasized the Lebanese resistance group's commitment to its operations, revealing 670 operations against the Israeli regime over the past three months, describing the current situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border as unprecedented since 1948.
Addressing Israelis in the north, Nasrallah urged them to seek a ceasefire from their leaders for their safety. He reiterated Hezbollah's objective in alleviating pressure on Hamas in Gaza and imposing a ceasefire in the region.
The conflict has already claimed the lives of 175 people in Lebanon and 13 Israelis, including nine soldiers, according to Israeli authorities.