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An IDF soldier was killed as Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets at Israel on Thursday after Israel assassinated a top Hezbollah commander the day before, with a Hezbollah leader warning the terror group’s violent response wasn’t over yet. Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, was quoted by L’Orient Today as saying on Thursday that Hezbollah’s response to the assassination of commander Mohammed Nasser would “continue” and target “unexpected locations” in Israel.
That ominous warning comes as the threat of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah looms, with the sides continuing to shoot across the border in a conflict started by Hezbollah after Hamas’ terror rampage on October 7.
On Thursday, the IDF confirmed in their official feed on X (formerly Twitter) that Hezbollah had launched approximately 200 projectiles and more than 20 “suspicious aerial targets” at Israel, with some intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems and airforce. Following the barrage, the IDF Hebrew X feed—translated by Google—reported Israeli air strikes and artillery fire against multiple Hezbollah “military structures” and other threats. IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, in his X feed also translated by Google, reported that the Hezbollah attacks started fires in Israel’s north.
The IDF Hebrew website, per Google translation, reported that Major Itai Galah was killed in Israel’s north on Thursday. Ynetnews confirmed Maj. Galah was killed in the rocket attack.
Hillel Neuer, the Executive Director of United Nations Watch, took to X to criticize the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for failing to address Hezbollah’s indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israel. Wrote Neuer: “I’m in Israel which has just been hit with the heaviest Hezbollah barrage since start of the war: 160 rockets & 15 UAVs launched from Lebanon in 1 hour. Two women slightly injured, fires breaking out across Galilee and Golan. In Geneva, the UNHRC is in session. They are silent.
A separate Ynetnews report cited claims in the German Bild tabloid that Israel is prepared to launch a war against Hezbollah in the second half of July if Hezbollah doesn’t end the fighting. When asked by a reporter about the Bild report on Tuesday and whether Israel would warn the US ahead of such an attack, US spokesperson Vedant Patel was quoted by the State Department as saying the US has “a close working relationship with our partners in Israel, and we continue to be in touch with them about our expectation for calm along the Blue Line [border between Israel and Lebanon] as well.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his country’s determination to bring peace to Israel’s north. In his X Hebrew feed, translated by Google, the Israeli leader said, “In the midst of the difficult campaign against Lebanon, we established a principle—whoever harms us will have blood on his head. We put it into practice. We know that the road is still long, but we are determined to restore security to the north and return the residents safely to their homes.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, July 4, 2024)