Hamas fires rockets toward central Israel, Israel dampens Hezbollah attack

Air France AIR.PA has canceled its flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut until Monday at least, the company said after Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at Israel on Sunday, and Israel's military said it struck Lebanon with about 100 jets.

The Home Front Command issued new guidelines, lifting restrictions in many areas of northern Israel on Sunday amid escalating attacks by the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah. 

These new guidelines include lifting restrictions in the Upper Galilee. This includes villages and towns in the southern Golan, Lower Galilee, Central Galilee, Beit She'an Valley, Valleys, Haifa Bay, Carmel, Wadi Ara, Menashe, Sharon, and Dan.

While the Upper Galilee has guidelines lifted, the northern Galilee and specified communities will only see partial activities permitted, as detailed in the defensive guidelines.

Israel's response on Sunday morning to Hezbollah's intended attack was the "less correct alternative," United Right chairman MK Gideon Sa'ar wrote in a post on X.

"Facing Hezbollah's decision to launch thousands of missiles and rockets, the government of Israel again chose the less correct strategy," he wrote. "The choice to merely thwart the attack after 10 and a half months of Hezbollah's attack against Israel is the continuation of the policy of containment. This decision has one outcome: only our enemies will determine the timing and scale of the escalation," Sa'ar wrote.

"This opportunity should have led to a decision on a general preemptive attack to change the reality in the North," Sa'ar continued. "Leaving the existing reality in the north of the country unchanged means the continuation of containment. There will not be a point of time in the future with laboratory conditions to act. Whoever runs away from war – war will chase him," Sa'ar concluded.  

Egypt warned against the dangers of opening a new war front in Lebanon, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday and called for stability in the country as Hezbollah and Israel clashed again.

The IAF struck a terror cell in Khiam, southern Lebanon, on Sunday morning, the IDF announced while also sharing that it had continued to destroy Hezbollah launchers in southern Lebanon.

The interception and elimination of a terror cell came about after Hezbollah launched over 300 rockets and drones at northern Israel in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Israel conducted preemptive strikes in Lebanon after intelligence indicated that the terror group was planning a large-scale aerial assault.

"The IDF is doing and will continue to do everything necessary to protect the citizens of the State of Israel," IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in response to the IDF's confirmation.

Aviation activity at the Beirut Rafic Hariri international airport has remained suspended in light of regional tensions, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

Beirut Rafic Hariri international airport on 25 aug 2024 (credit: SCREENSHOT/X)

This is while Ben-Gurion Aiport has already resumed to full aviation activity.

Hezbollah claimed that it fired over 320 rockets and drones at Israel on Sunday morning, August 25. The attack was the “first phase” it had prepared in response to the killing of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr. Shukr was killed on July 30 after a Hezbollah rocket killed twelve children and teenagers in Majdal Shams in northern Israel.

Hezbollah’s attack was widely expected, and the group had warned of an attack for weeks. The warnings came as Iran also said it would retaliate for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. It was expected that Iran and Hezbollah might even coordinate attacks.

Due to the conflict, commercial airlines canceled flights to Israel in August, and Israel was put on alert. On Sunday morning, the IDF struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers, which may have prevented a wider Hezbollah attack.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Iran's new Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi discussed the situation in Gaza and developments in the region in a call, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Sunday.