After confirming the missile readiness, Israel launched preemptive strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in “self-defence”, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, warning civilians to evacuate immediately and vowing to “take all measures to protect the Israeli people”.
Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari confirmed in a statement on Saturday night (Sunday morning Israeli time) that the IDF had launched preemptive strikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in response to an imminent missile and rocket threat.
“As an act of self-defense to eliminate these threats, the IDF is striking terror targets in Lebanon from which Hezbollah had planned to launch attacks against Israeli civilians.”@IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari on Hezbollah plans to attack Israel
pic.twitter.com/KEIzG0pXWA— Israel ישראל (@Israel) August 25, 2024
The military action came after the IDF identified a Hezbollah terrorist cell preparing to attack Israeli territory. The IDF described the operation as a “self-defense” measure aimed at neutralizing the threat to Israeli civilians.
“Some time ago, the Israel Defense Forces [the] Hezbollah terrorist group prepares to launch missiles [and] “The IDF fired rockets at Israeli territory,” Hagari said. “As a defensive measure to eliminate this threat, the IDF is striking terrorist sites in Lebanon where Hezbollah has planned attacks on Israeli civilians.”
He noted that the military escalation came in retaliation for the relentless targeting of Israeli civilians by Iranian proxies over the past year.
“This comes after Hezbollah has fired more than 6,700 rockets, missiles and explosive drones at Israeli families, homes and communities since October 8,” an IDF spokesman said.
Since October 7, the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has fired more than 8,000 rockets into Israel, forcing up to 65,000 Israelis to flee their homes.
This morning, the IDF is striking targets in an act of self-defense to eliminate the Hezbollah threat… pic.twitter.com/jI7ASWxsIC
— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) August 25, 2024
The IDF also warned Lebanese civilians in Hezbollah-controlled areas to evacuate immediately, citing the increased danger to the area due to the terrorist group’s actions.
“We see Hezbollah preparing a major attack on Israel, putting Lebanese civilians at risk, working close to their homes in southern Lebanon,” Haghari said. “We warn civilians in areas where Hezbollah is operating to leave the danger zone immediately for their own safety.”
“Hezbollah’s continued aggression risks embroiling the Lebanese people, the Israeli people and the entire region in a broader escalation of tensions,” he added.
The spokesman concluded by asserting that Israel “will not tolerate Hezbollah’s attacks on our civilians.”
#clockIsraeli air defense forces repel Hezbollah rockets fired at civilians in northern Israel pic.twitter.com/0umnUs7U2q
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) August 25, 2024
“We are acting to defend ourselves against Hezbollah and other enemies who join in attacks against us,” he added, “and we are ready to do everything, everything necessary, to defend the Israeli people.”
BREAKING: In an act of self-defense to eliminate the Hezbollah threat, the Israel Defense Forces are striking targets in southern Lebanon where an Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization was planning to launch attacks on Israeli civilians.
Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks target… pic.twitter.com/BtuUAqtgsv
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) August 25, 2024
The issue comes as Israel continues efforts to dismantle Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre that left some 1,200 Israelis dead in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Injured More than 4,800 people were killed and 241 hostages were taken, more than half of whom remain in Gaza. The majority of the victims were civilians. include Dozens of American citizens.
The following day, Hezbollah fired guided rockets and artillery shells at Israel in retaliation for the war between Israel and Hamas that began the previous day. Since then, clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified, significantly escalating tensions in the region, with gun battles across the Lebanese-Israeli border causing large-scale displacement and raising fears that a major clash between the Iranian-backed terror group and the Jewish state is imminent.
Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite Islamist political party and terrorist organization, has significant influence in Lebanon, effectively shaping the country’s political and security environment, and is often recognized as a state within a state. The organization’s military capabilities have grown significantly, at times exceeding those of the Lebanese Army. With Iranian support and political backing from Syria, the organization has expanded its activities beyond Lebanon, particularly participating in the Syrian civil war alongside the Assad regime.
Hezbollah, which actively seeks to expand its influence beyond the Middle East, has been designated a terrorist organization by more than a dozen countries and international organizations, including major Western countries, most European Union member states, and most Arab League member states, for its involvement in terrorist activities targeting the United States, France, Israel and other countries.
As a result, it has become a major security concern for Israel and has also put it at odds with the United States. In 1983, Hezbollah bombed the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 US soldiers, one of the deadliest attacks against the United States before 9/11. In 2018, at an event at the White House marking the 35th anniversary of the attack, then-President Donald Trump said: stated “Other than al Qaeda, no other terrorist group has shed so much American blood.”
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. Joshua Klein.
