At around 1:10 on Sunday morning, sirens went off in more than 70 locations in northern Israel as the Hezbollah terrorist group launched a massive wave of rockets at Israel. Among the targets was the Ramat David airbase. Towns such as Yokne’am, Nazareth, Afula, as well as areas in the lower Galilee, the Jezreel Valley and around Mount Carmel were affected.
תיעוד היירוטים באזור נצרת pic.twitter.com/c5t7kokS9N
— i24NEWS (@i24NEWS_HE) September 21, 2024
Missile defence over Nazareth
According to initial reports, Hezbollah used Fajr-5 missiles for the first time since the 2006 Lebanon war. Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli defences. One man was lightly wounded by shrapnel in the Lower Galilee.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying: ‘We fired rockets at the Ramat David airbase in response to the Israeli attacks’. Power cuts were also reported in several towns around Afula.
Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, is under attack by Hezbollah.
The Israeli town, also known as ‘the Arab capital of Israel,’ has a population that is around 70% Muslim and 30% Christian. pic.twitter.com/OiJSuOq6BO
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) September 22, 2024
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed that around ten rockets had entered Israeli territory from Lebanon. Most were intercepted, but one hit the Jezreel Valley.
Later, at around 4 o’clock in the morning, sirens went off again in the south of the Golan Heights. The IDF announced that suspicious flying objects from Iraq had been intercepted. These objects had not entered Israeli airspace and there were no reports of injuries.
At around 5am, rockets were again fired into the Jezreel Valley, hitting a cowshed. Several cows were killed and there was significant material damage. Police reported explosions at several locations.
According to the IDF, a total of 24 rockets were fired at Ramat David and the Jezreel Valley region in three waves. All were successfully neutralised by the defence system.
In light of the escalating situation, the IDF has revised its security guidelines for the northern and southern Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee, the Haifa region and the Jezreel Valley. At 6.30 am, sirens also sounded in Acre and the Kiriyat region.
Overnight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security meeting with senior ministers and military officials. The airspace north of Hadera will remain closed until at least Tuesday.
Israel’s security cabinet will meet in Tel Aviv on Sunday at 17:30 to discuss the latest events.
Shortly after midnight, the IDF announced that it had bombed a total of 290 targets in southern Lebanon during the day. These included rocket launchers and terrorist infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah.
The IDF stressed that operations would continue in order to further degrade and destroy Hezbollah’s capabilities and infrastructure.
