Hezbollah fires around 100 rockets, drones toward Israel

BEIRUT, March 7 (Xinhua) -- About 100 rockets and drones were launched from Lebanon toward Israel over the course of Saturday, while Israeli tanks advanced toward a southern Lebanese border town, Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV channel reported, as cross-border hostilities intensified amid ongoing Israeli attacks on several areas across Lebanon.

The Islamic Resistance, the armed wing of Hezbollah, said the projectiles were fired from Lebanese territory toward Israeli targets during the day.

Israeli media reported that rockets continued to be launched from Lebanon toward northern Israeli settlements, with sirens sounding in Kiryat Shmona and Margaliot.

Hezbollah said in separate statements that its fighters targeted radar systems of the Iron Dome air defense system at the Kiryat Eliezer site, described as the main air defense base in the city of Haifa, at 8:00 p.m. local time with a salvo of what it called "precision rockets."

In another statement, the group said it also targeted the Stella Maris base, a strategic facility used for maritime monitoring and surveillance along Israel's northern coast, with a similar rocket barrage at the same time. The group also renewed its warning to residents of Nahariyya and Kiryat Shmona, urging them to evacuate.

Meanwhile, Al-Manar TV reported that several Israeli Merkava tanks advanced from the Israeli settlement of Avivim toward the southern Lebanese town of Aitaroun.

According to Al-Manar, the advancing Israeli force was met with a volley of rockets, while heavy machine-gun fire was heard in the Al-Zuqaq neighborhood on the outskirts of the town.

Hezbollah announced the launch of rockets from Lebanon toward Israel early Monday for the first time since a ceasefire was declared on Nov. 27, 2024, prompting the government to announce a ban on its security and military activities, limiting it to political work and obligating it to hand over its weapons.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army launched what it described as an "offensive military campaign" against Hezbollah, carrying out intense airstrikes on multiple Lebanese areas and border ground incursions, accompanied by warnings for residents to evacuate areas south of the Litani River and Beirut's southern suburbs. ■