The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired one of its heaviest rocket barrages yet into Israel on Wednesday, targeting military bases and an arms factory, in response to an overnight strike that killed one of its senior commanders.
The commander, Taleb Abdallah, also known as Abu Taleb, was among the highest-ranking Hezbollah members to have been killed since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel set off war in Gaza. The Israeli offensive prompted Hezbollah to mount cross-border attacks in support of Hamas.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday that it had struck a Hezbollah command and control center, killing Mr. Abdallah and three other Hezbollah fighters. It called Mr. Abdallah one of Hezbollah’s top commanders in southern Lebanon.
As sirens sounded across northern Israel on Wednesday, Israeli army radio said that around 150 rockets had been launched from Lebanon in an apparent response to the Israeli strike.
Hezbollah claimed attacks on a string of military bases, including on Mount Meron, an area housing a military radar station that is roughly five miles south of the border. Hezbollah also claimed to have struck an arms factory belonging to Plasan, a manufacturer of armored vehicles used by the Israeli military.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the rocket barrages, according to the Israeli military. It said in a statement that a number of the rockets had been intercepted, but that several had hit the ground and started fires.
Israeli firefighters were working to extinguish the blazes, a week after another Hezbollah rocket attack set off wildfires that prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue a threat of “very intense action” along the Lebanese border.
The Israeli military said it had responded on Wednesday by striking a number of launch sites across the border. Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported heavy Israeli airstrikes and bombardment across the country’s south.
Hezbollah, a powerful Lebanese militia and political movement backed by Iran, and Israel have bombarded each other across the border for much of the past eight months, with more than 150,000 people on both sides of the boundary forced to flee their homes. But the intensity of the attacks has increased this month amid threats by Israeli officials at the highest levels to pursue further military action.
Israel has been targeting Hezbollah commanders with the aim of pushing the group north of the Litani River in Lebanon, hoping to prevent cross-border attacks and to eventually allow Israeli civilians displaced by the fighting to return to their homes. Some experts have expressed skepticism about whether the targeted killings can accomplish this aim.
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting.