Hezbollah ATGM, drone launches more than doubled in one month

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
3 Jun 2024 09:35
1 Shares

Israeli media highlight that 120,000 more Israelis are now within Hezbollah's range of fire.

Listen

Israeli firefighters put out flames in a field after rockets launched from southern Lebanon landed on the outskirts of Katzrin in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on June 2, 2024. (AFP)

Israeli media highlighted early Monday the recent increase in Hezbollah's firepower against Israeli targets and its impact on the Israeli military and settlers, indicating that 120,000 additional Israelis are now within the Lebanese Resistance group's range of fire.

A report on the Israeli website Ynet mentioned that in the city of Nahariya, in northern occupied Palestine, Israeli settlers rushed to shelters three times Sunday as a drone crash sparked fire, while in Akka, sirens sounded for the third consecutive day. In Katzrin, fires erupted following a barrage of rockets.

The report explained that, for months, Nahariya and Akka were relatively calm, compared to other areas. Nahariya saw five consecutive months – from November to April – without sirens, while Akka enjoyed four months – from late December until the end of April – of calm.

But in recent days, this reality has changed after a drone fell in Nahariya, marking the first time the city has been hit since the opening of the northern front.

The Israeli occupation military confirmed that there were several failed attempts to intercept the drone, and a fire broke out as a result of the crash and not from interceptive shrapnel.

The explosive-laden drones that were launched by Hezbollah successfully made impacts in Nahariya and caused for the ignition of fire. https://t.co/6O7Zw8wsOv pic.twitter.com/aqCCqfAXCX
— Arya - آریا 🇮🇷🏴 (@AryJeay) June 2, 2024

"There's no war in the north. Now they'll say it fell in an unpopulated area," one Israeli settler was quoted as sarcastically saying.

Meanwhile, in Akka, sirens sounded for the third consecutive day, and on Saturday drone shrapnel was spotted in the city.

The report pointed out that Nahariya and Akka are not the only large population centers recently hit by Hezbollah's firepower. It highlighted that Katzrin, the largest settlement in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, was shelled with a barrage of rockets that caused fires in multiple locations.

Ynet noted that just like Nahariya and Akka, settlers in Katzrin were not evacuated following the bombing, emphasizing that many buildings in the city lack fortified shelters.

According to the report, 15 firefighting crews, aided by six firefighting planes, worked for hours to combat the fires in Katzrin.

Massive fires expand in the Israeli-occupied #Syrian Golan as a result of rockets launched by the Islamic Resistance in #Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/bTor0B0vmY
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) June 2, 2024

It added that other fires also broke out in Kiryat Shmona, Yiftach, and Ani'am, as well as in the areas of the Yehudiya River and Nahal Zavitan, some of which have not yet been extinguished.

Ynet indicated that "data unequivocally shows a rise in Hezbollah attacks" on Israeli targets in northern occupied Palestine, highlighting that May witnessed the highest number of Hezbollah attacks, totaling 325, as per the Alma Research and Education Center, with a daily average of 10 attacks, compared to 238 in April, with a daily average of 7.8 attacks.

The news website mentioned that the Israeli occupation military claimed that these figures were not recognized and that December saw the highest number of launches. However, the Alma Center pointed out that the data covers all types of attacks, excluding the number of rockets fired in each barrage.

95 ATGMs, 85 drones in May

In detail, the website highlighted a surge, more than double, in the number of ATGMs and drones launched in May, going from 50 ATGM launches in April to 95 in May, and from 42 drone infiltrations in April to 85 in May.

It added that the past four months have witnessed a more than 12-fold increase in drone-related incidents, highlighting a simultaneous increase in the range of fire, mainly by launching drones, amid "Israel's" dilemma of whether to launch an all-out battle in the North or not.

Moreover, the increase in launches from Lebanon, according to Ynet, is raising the level of tension, which, in turn, is leading to increased internal disputes, as in the altercation between the commander of the northern region, Major General Ori Gordin, and the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, Avichai Stern, as reported by Ynet.

This comes as the Supreme Galilee Council provides a summary of security events affecting the sector on a daily basis, highlighting how yesterday’s summary was “particularly long – perhaps one of the longest since the beginning of the war, and it did not even include the sirens that sounded in Nahariya and Akka, which are located in another sector,” the report concluded.