Israeli fighter jets, tanks, and artillery forces struck several Hezbollah terror compounds and infrastructure across southern Lebanon on Thursday in response to a day of heavy rocket barrages in the North, the IDF reported.Air-raid sirens sounded from Haifa’s bayside suburbs to the Golan Heights on Thursday.Earlier, the IDF shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle that had crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Thursday, the IDF said.A Hezbollah military complex was targeted during the strikes.
IDF strikes the source of Lebanese rocket fire
In addition, the IDF struck a terrorist cell that attempted to fire anti-tank missiles at Israeli territory.Israeli forces attacked another cell that fired rockets at northern Israel earlier on Thursday.In southern Lebanon, a UN peacekeeper was hurt when a group of young men attacked a patrol and tried to stop it from moving through their village, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Thursday in a statement.The incident took place on Wednesday night when residents of the village of Taybeh briefly blocked the peacekeepers’ patrol traveling through the area, UNIFIL said.The wounded man was an Indonesian soldier, a security source said. A vehicle was damaged, UNIFIL said.It called on Lebanese authorities to investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.In a second incident on Thursday morning, a peacekeepers’ convoy traveling to UNIFIL’s eastern headquarters was briefly blocked by residents, who let them go ahead after a brief discussion, UNIFIL said.A Lebanese security source said a group of men had hit the UNIFIL vehicles with sticks and rocks.The reason for the actions was not clear, but in previous incidents, local people have objected to UNIFIL peacekeepers driving military vehicles through residential areas.There was no comment from Hezbollah, which controls security in southern Lebanon.No peacekeepers have been killed since the escalation of hostilities. But two peacekeepers have been wounded in two separate incidents, and UNIFIL compounds and bases have been hit and damaged by mortar fire several times.One Irish peacekeeper was killed in December 2022 when the UN vehicle he was driving in was fired on as it traveled through southern Lebanon.The UN mission currently has about 10,000 troops drawn from 47 countries and about 800 civilian staff, stationed in 45 positions throughout a 1,060-square-km. area between the Litani River and the Blue Line.
This is a developing story.