In an attack of its own, Hezbollah fired 180 “projectiles” into Israel, according to the Israeli military, which said most were intercepted.
Israel announced a new division had joined its invasion of southern Lebanon on Tuesday, signaling that it could be ramping up operations as it pounded the Beirut strongholds of Hezbollah. Two Israeli officials confirmed that Israel had also struck near the Iranian Embassy in Syria’s capital.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces launched their own aerial attack toward Israel, firing what the Israeli military said were 180 “projectiles,” most of which were intercepted.
Separately, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to confirm in a video message released on Tuesday that Israeli airstrikes outside Beirut last week had killed the presumed successor of Hezbollah’s assassinated leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
“We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement,” Mr. Netanyahu said in an apparent reference to Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Mr. Nasrallah who was expected to replace him and had been targeted in last week’s attack in Lebanon. Neither Hezbollah nor Israel has confirmed Mr. Safieddine’s death.
For the past week, as fighting between Israel and Iran and its proxies has heated up, much of the region has braced for Israel’s avowed retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage last week. The strike in Syria’s capital, Damascus, was an attempt to assassinate a high-ranking Hezbollah official involved in weapons smuggling, according to the two Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.
Israel fired three missiles from the area of the Golan Heights, targeting a residential building, Syria’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The building was in the Mezzeh district of Damascus, a highly fortified neighborhood that houses embassies and security structures. The ministry’s statement said that seven people had been killed and 11 others injured in the strikes, including women and children.
