Lebanon’s Hezbollah launches deepest attack into Israel, targets near Haifa

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah fired several drones at Israeli military bases near Haifa Tuesday, in the deepest strikes inside Israel since the cross-border hostilities and the Gaza war began in October.

In a statement shared by the movement’s Al-Manar station, Hezbollah claimed to have “launched an aerial attack using decoy and explosive drones targeting the headquarters of the Golani Brigade and the Egoz Unit 621 stationed in the Shraga military barracks in the north of the occupied city of Acre.”

The Israeli military said in a post on X that its air defenses had shot down two “suspected aerial targets” over the sea in the north of the country.

The attack on Acra comes hours after an Israeli drone strike hit a vehicle near Lebanon’s southern town of Aadloun earlier on Tuesday, killing two Hezbollah operatives, according to the Israeli military. In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces identified them as Hussein Ali Azkoul, who worked in the movement’s aerial defense forces, and Sajed Sarafand, a member of the group’s elite Radwan force.

Hezbollah later confirmed the death of a fighter identified as Azkoul, without offering more details.

The daily cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military has been ongoing since the war in the Gaza Strip erupted in October. Iran-backed Hezbollah says its operations are in support of the Palestinian people and their cause.

According to a Reuters tally, more than 270 Hezbollah fighters have been killed as well as over 70 civilians, including journalists, in Lebanon since the war began.

On the Israeli side, 11 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed, according to Israeli figures.

The hostilities have raised concerns of a full-fledged war. Israel has struck the eastern Bekaa region, deep inside Lebanon, on several occasions in the past month, while Hezbollah has intensified its rocket and drone attacks at military sites in northern Israel.