Israel Says It Intercepted Missile Fired At Tel Aviv—Hezbollah Says Mossad Headquarters Was Target

by · Forbes

Topline

Hezbollah fired a missile at Tel Aviv on Wednesday—its deepest strike into Israeli territory and the latest sign of escalating tensions—which Israel’s military said it intercepted to prevent any damages or casualties.

Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system over ... [+] the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel.AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Hezbollah said the ballistic missile fired at Tel Aviv was meant to target the headquarters of Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, which the militant group has blamed for the recent killings of some of its leaders and last week’s attack involving exploding pagers, which killed at least a dozen.

The launch triggered sirens in Israel’s financial capital, but the country’s military said it was able to intercept the missile and then struck the area where it was fired from in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s military spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, tweeted that Hezbollah’s missile launch sent “millions of innocent civilians across central Israel running to shelter” and later said the “Mossad headquarters is not in that area.”

A few hours later, Hezbollah said it had targeted the town of Hatzon in central Israel and the Dado military base in the country’s north with tens of rockets, Lebanese state media reported, with the latter causing some property damage.

The Israeli Defense Forces said it had launched another round of “extensive” strikes into southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley region in the country’s east.

According to Lebanese state media, at least three people were killed and nine injured by Israeli airstrikes on the town of Maaysrah—located north of Beirut—on Wednesday.

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Big Number

At least 558. That is the combined death toll in Lebanon after the IDF conducted a widespread aerial bombardment campaign targeting the country’s south on Monday and Tuesday, according to local authorities. The toll includes 50 children and 94 women.