Months of quiet were shattered on Saturday when multiple rockets were launched from Lebanon into Israel, with the IDF responding by hitting a range of Hezbollah targets. The unprovoked attack from Lebanon is the first rocketfire since a ceasefire was settled in November and comes as the Gaza ceasefire has collapsed and Yemen has resumed attacks on Israel as well. IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that Israeli air defenses had intercepted the rockets.
“The Government of Lebanon is the party responsible for everything taking place within its territory,” said a press release from Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday after the Lebanese attack. “Israel will not allow any harm to its citizens and its sovereignty—and will do everything in its power to ensure the safety of the citizens of Israel and the communities of the North.”
According to the Israeli press release, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz responded to the Lebanese projectiles with an order to the IDF to “act with force against dozens of terrorist targets.”
The IDF ultimately struck in waves, with a command center and dozens of rocket launchers in the initial strike according to the IDF page on X. A later round hit a weapons depot among other targets, according to a translation by Google of the IDF Hebrew page on X.
Said the IDF on X after the initial counterattack: “The rocket fire launched this morning toward the Galilee constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and is a direct threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.”
The incident continues to expose more than just the fragility of the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel—it also highlights the danger Lebanese terrorists continue to pose. In response to a post on X reporting Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Souhtern Lebanon, Middle East security analyst Seth Frantzman astutely noted on his own X page: “On the other hand…Hezbollah isn’t supposed to have positions in Lebanon…so this is a problem in itself.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, March 23, 2025)