Hezbollah Fires Rockets into Northern Israel in Retaliation for Airstrike

On Sunday, Lebanon's Hezbollah announced that it had launched Katyusha rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that, as reported by state media, targeted a weapons depot and resulted in six injuries. Since the Palestinian militant group Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, which escalated the conflict in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah has engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire with Israeli forces in solidarity with Hamas.

Hezbollah, supported by Iran, claimed it aimed Katyusha rockets at the Dafna region of northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks on civilians in Adloun, which led to several injuries. This followed the Israeli military's announcement that its air force had hit two Hezbollah storage sites in southern Lebanon, filled with rockets and other weapons.

On Saturday night, Lebanon's National News Agency reported that Israel had conducted an airstrike on Adloun, approximately 30km from the Israeli border, targeting an ammunition depot. The NNA later updated the number of injured civilians from three to six. Rockets continued to explode in Adloun for about an hour after the initial strike, with online videos showing multiple large blasts. Shrapnel from these explosions reached nearby villages.

Hezbollah separately confirmed that three of its fighters had been killed. Earlier on Saturday, both Hezbollah and Hamas launched rocket attacks and drones armed with explosives at Israeli positions. Hezbollah stated it fired dozens of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel in response to an Israeli-attributed strike that injured civilians. Meanwhile, Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have fired rockets from southern Lebanon towards an Israeli military position in the Upper Galilee.

Since October, the ongoing violence has claimed the lives of at least 518 people in Lebanon, according to AFP's count. The majority of the fatalities were fighters, but at least 104 were civilians. In Israel, 18 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, as reported by Israeli authorities.