Hezbollah says it has successfully completed a retaliatory attack on Israel in response to the killing of commander Fuad Shukr at the end of July.
Earlier on Sunday, Israel said it had launched airstrikes on southern Lebanon in a “preemptive” attack when it detected Hezbollah’s preparation to attack northern Israel.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah denied that however, saying in a televised speech that the group was able to successfully launch all of its rockets and drones.
While Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging tit-for-tat attacks across the border with some intensity since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October, this marks a significant escalation.
Exchange of attacks
Hezbollah’s “response” was anticipated, coming as it is weeks after targeted killings of senior commanders in Hezbollah and its ally Hamas that were blamed on Israel.
The Lebanese group said it fired more than 320 Katyusha rockets at 11 Israeli military bases and barracks, including an intelligence based at Glilot, near Tel Aviv, the Meron base and four sites in the occupied Golan Heights.
The two sides have been exchanging tit-for-tat attacks for months, with Sunday’s attacks a marked escalation.
“Most of the Israeli strikes on Lebanon were in the border area, up to 5km [3 miles] deep along the 120km [74-mile] border,” said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Lebanese town Marjayoun.
“The border area is now a military zone. It’s been evacuated … It’s been repeatedly hit by the Israeli army in recent months.”
Israel says 100 of its jets bombed thousands of Hezbollah launch sites in southern Lebanon half an hour before the planned Hezbollah launch, to protect Israelis from the planned attack.
Nasrallah framed this claim as an Israeli attempt to save face, and said that the Israelis were obscuring the damage that the locations targeted had endured.
The Israeli military said a member of its navy was killed and two others wounded in combat in northern Israel.
Lebanon’s NNA news agency reported one person was critically injured in a later Israeli drone attack in Qasimia and an airstrike killed one person in the town of Khiam.
‘Special situation’
Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared a nationwide “special situation” for 48 hours from 6am (03:00 GMT) on Sunday.
Israel’s Ben Gurion airport was temporarily closed in the early hours of the morning, while reports emerged of some injuries in northern Israel.
The Israeli army also announced a series of restrictions on civilians in northern Israel and the Golan Heights.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli military had intercepted drones that were launched “towards a strategic target in the central part of the country”, without specifying what it was.
Netanyahu said Israel was “determined to do everything possible to defend” itself. “Whoever harms us – we harm him,” he said.
“What happened today is not the end of the story,” he added. “Nasrallah in Beirut and [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei in Tehran need to understand that this is another step in changing the situation in the North [of Israel] and returning our residents safely to their homes.”
Following the attacks, Al Jazeera’s Khodr said that while Hezbollah is saying this is just the beginning of its promised retaliation, there is no indication to suggest that a second phase is imminent.
“But the messaging from Israel since the early hours of the morning is that the ball is now in Hezbollah’s court when it comes to further escalation because we heard the Israeli military spokesman say at least three times they acted in self-defence,” she said.
“This is, and has been, a very dangerous conflict, even though largely contained, there is a real concern that it could expand and spiral out of control.”
‘Trying to avoid full-blown war’
The Israeli military says most of its attacks against Hezbollah are in southern Lebanon for now, but it will strike anywhere where there is a threat.
Global fears of an all-out regional conflict multiplied after the assassination last month of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and of Shukr in Beirut, both blamed on Israel.
Israel’s attacks have “the potential to draw the whole region into the full-blown war”, Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, told Al Jazeera although he feels that both sides will try to avoid full-blown war.
Meanwhile, the United States said on Sunday it would “keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself”.
At President Joe Biden’s direction, “senior US officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts”, US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.
Sunday’s attack came as Egypt is hosting a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its 11th month. Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a ceasefire.
No diplomatic settlement, however, appears to be taking form and “Israel is determined to change rules of engagement” that would allow a return of all Israelis who were evacuated from northern Israel, said Nader.
