Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and launched drones toward northern Israel on Tuesday evening, setting off air raid sirens from the Lebanese border down to the Hadera area, as the IDF carried out strikes on launch sites in Lebanon.
The barrage began around 8:29 p.m., with sirens sounding across wide areas including frontline communities, Haifa and the Krayot, Nahariya, Safed and Kiryat Shmona. Alerts were also activated in parts of the West Bank and as far south as Hadera, sending hundreds of thousands of residents into shelters.
The IDF said it intercepted rockets in two separate waves, while some projectiles landed in open areas. Six drones launched toward the Galilee and Golan Heights were all intercepted, the military said.
A direct hit was reported on a home in the northern city of Karmiel, though no injuries were reported. Fire and rescue teams said crews were dispatched to the scene, where they conducted searches and disconnected utilities. Reports of additional impact sites were investigated but later ruled out.
At the same time, the military said the Israeli Air Force was striking Hezbollah rocket launchers, operatives and infrastructure across Lebanon. The strikes were part of an effort to disrupt and prevent further launches, with aircraft targeting launch teams either before or shortly after firing.
Earlier in the day, the IDF had identified preparations by Hezbollah for a large-scale attack and began preemptive strikes on launch sites and operatives in southern Lebanon. Military officials described an ongoing effort to suppress rocket fire, with Israeli aircraft targeting dozens of sites, including weapons depots, launch positions and buildings used by the group. Lebanese reports cited strikes in multiple areas, including Baalbek in the country’s east.
The latest attack follows criticism of the military’s handling of a similar barrage last week, when Hezbollah fired around 200 rockets. That incident contributed to a drop in public confidence among residents of northern communities, according to a recent resilience index study.
This time, the IDF issued advance warnings to residents about the possibility of heavy fire and adjusted its response, combining early alerts with extensive preemptive strikes.
In a separate development, the military said a missile was launched from Iran toward southern Israel around 9:38 p.m., triggering sirens in areas including Dimona and Yeruham. The projectile was likely intercepted, and no injuries were reported.
Security officials said that despite the scale of the attacks, the latest barrage did not represent a significant escalation compared to the previous week. While the military had prepared for the possibility of hundreds of rockets, the actual number fired was significantly lower. Officials also noted that no rockets were launched toward central Israel, and the Iranian fire was limited to the south rather than coordinated simultaneously with the launches from Lebanon.
