An attack on a central Israeli town early on Saturday injured 11 people as Iran’s Supreme Leader vowed a punishing response to Israel’s attack last week.
The pre-dawn strike on Tira, which followed air raid sirens across central Israel, was one of several barrages fired from Lebanon earleir in the day. Many of the projectiles were intercepted by Israeli air defences, while others landed in unpopulated areas.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said 11 people were hurt by shrapnel and glass shards in a direct strike on a building in Tira, a predominantly Israeli Arab town. Three were in moderate condition, while the others suffered milder injuries.
Footage showed significant damage to the roof and top floor of the three-storey building and cars below.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group claimed responsibility for firing missiles towards the Israeli military’s Unit 8200 base in Glilot on the edge of Tel Aviv and for attacking central Israel’s Palmachim Air Base with explosive drones, saying they “scored precise hits on targets”.
Israel’s military has not confirmed either base was targeted or hit. Hezbollah said the Saturday dawn missile attack directed at Glilot was in retaliation for the “massacres” that are being committed by Israel. It was likely that the claim was linked to the strike on Tira, which is about 20 km away from Glilot.
Tamar Abdel Hai, a resident of Tira, said that the attack was frightening. “I call upon all the leaders in the Arab world and the leaders in Israel and to everyone who can help to end this war. It’s enough,” he said.
Hezbollah also said that its fighters have fired salvos of rockets into northern Israeli towns including Dalton, Yesud HaMa’ala and Bar Yohai.
The early Saturday attacks may be only a precursor to a more severe strike against Israel.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, on Saturday threatened Israel and the US with a punishing response over attacks on Iran and its allies following Israel’s October 26 airstrikes that targeted Iran’s military bases and other locations.
“The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front,” Khamenei said in video released by Iranian state media.
A further attack by Iran, which has already launched two direct attacks against Israel this year, could push the wider West Asia closer to a broader conflict. Israel is already battling the Iran-backed militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The fight against Hezbollah has weakened the group.
On Friday, Israel launched dozens of intense airstrikes across Lebanon’s northeastern farming villages, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores more.
