Hezbollah fires about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel

Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in the militant group’s heaviest barrage in several days, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut as negotiators pressed on with ceasefire efforts to halt the all-out war.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a Lebanese army centre killed one soldier and wounded 18 others on the southwestern coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon’s military said.

Israel’s military expressed regret and said the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah, adding that its operations are directed solely against the militants.

The strike was under review.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon’s military has largely kept to the sidelines.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there.

It has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas.

Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory air strikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched waves of air strikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several top commanders.

The Israeli military said some of the projectiles fired on Sunday were intercepted.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year-old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there.

In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing.

The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage elsewhere were caused by rockets or interceptors.

Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later.

Israeli air strikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Smoke billowed above Beirut again on Sunday with new strikes.

Israel’s military said it targeted Hezbollah command centres in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry.

The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel’s ground invasion in early October.

Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country’s north.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week.

The European Union’s top diplomat called on Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was “pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government”.

Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mr Mikati and Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group.

Mr Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros (£165.8 million) to assist the Lebanese military, which would deploy additional forces to the south.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the month-long 2006 war.

Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon’s army reflects the religious diversity of the country and is respected as a national institution, but it does not have the military capability to impose its will on Hezbollah or resist Israel’s invasion.