Hezbollah declares ‘open-ended battle of reckoning’ with Israel

Hezbollah has launched more than 100 rockets across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel

Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early on Sunday (September 22, 2024) across northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon. A Hezbollah leader declared an “open-ended battle of reckoning” was underway as both sides appeared to be spiraling closer toward all-out war.

The overnight rocket barrage was in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon that have killed dozens, including a veteran Hezbollah commander, and an unprecedented attack targeting the group’s communications devices. Air raid sirens across northern Israel sent hundreds of thousands of people scrambling into shelters.

One rocket struck near a residential building in Kiryat Bialik, a city near Haifa, wounding at least three persons and setting buildings and cars on fire.

Three Lebanese killed

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that three persons were killed and another four wounded in Israeli strikes near the border, without saying whether they were civilians or combatants.

Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Kassem said his group is now in an ″open-ended battle of reckoning” with Israel, threatening more displacement for people in Israel’s north.

“We admit that we are pained. We are humans. But as we are pained — you will also be pained,” Kassem said at the funeral of top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil. He said a barrage of rockets fired by the group deep into Israel early on Sunday (September 22, 2024) was only the beginning, vowing to destroy Israel’s economy.

Israel’s response

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take whatever action was necessary to restore security in the north and allow people to return to their homes.

“No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either,” he said.

The Israeli military said it carried out strikes across southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, hitting about 400 militant sites, including rocket launchers. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said those strikes had thwarted an even larger attack.

Published - September 23, 2024 07:45 am IST