On Sunday, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in the most intense cross-border fighting in months.
ADRIAN MA, HOST:
Today, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in one of the most intense cross-border clashes in months. The region has been bracing for this escalation since Israel killed a Hezbollah commander in Beirut in July. And today’s fighting comes as ceasefire talks to end the war in Gaza continue. NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi is in northern Israel in the city of Haifa and joins us now. Good afternoon, Hadeel.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Good afternoon.
MA: Can you tell us what happened this morning?
AL-SHALCHI: Absolutely. So Israeli warplanes struck dozens of targets inside southern Lebanon before dawn today. The Israeli military actually called it a preemptive strike. They said they had intelligence that Hezbollah was about to launch a major attack of its own. Hezbollah counterattacked. But then later in the morning, both sides said they had completed their mission for the day, and the situation had de-escalated. The Israeli military said one soldier was killed and two others were wounded. And the Lebanese Health Ministry said three people were killed.
MA: Okay, so Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting each other since the beginning of the war in Gaza. What makes today’s cross-border war different?
AL-SHALCHI: Well, then I’ll say two things. First, the scale – this was one of the largest attacks by either side. The Israeli military said 100 warplanes bombed more than 40 Hezbollah targets. And then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was able to intercept thousands of missiles aimed at Israel. And then Hezbollah said it fired more than 320 missiles and a large number of drones at nearly a dozen Israeli military bases. So really, the scale of this exchange is quite impressive.
And secondly, Hezbollah has announced that this is the first phase of their attack in retaliation for the Israeli killing of a senior Hezbollah leader in Beirut. His name is Fuad Shukr. His assassination, along with the killing of the Hamas leader in Tehran, has – they’ve kept the region on edge. You know, everyone is worried about a full-scale war. So it’s unclear whether what happened today is the punitive strike that the region has been waiting for, but we’ll have to wait and see how today’s attacks actually play out.
MA: Well, what was the reaction like in northern Israel, where you are?
AL-SHALCHI: Yes. Well, at least here in Haifa, the streets are pretty quiet, and some people say they are afraid to walk around. Some people say they woke up early, around 4:00 in the morning, because of the rockets. You know, since the start of the war with Gaza and when Hezbollah and Israel started fighting, thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from towns and cities in the north to places like Haifa and Tel Aviv. One of those people is Avraham Moreno, 80, from a border town called Shlomi. He said he and his wife have been living in a hotel in Haifa since October 16. We asked him how he felt about the attack this morning.
AVRAHAM MORENO: (Speaking language other than English).
AL-SHALCHI: Moreno said he wanted the strike to be stronger than it was, and he said it should have come much sooner. And, you know, many people we’ve talked to here say the same thing. They’re angry with the government for not doing more, and many say they would prefer an all-out war with Hezbollah to finally end this conflict.
MA: What are Israeli and Hezbollah leaders saying?
AL-SHALCHI: Yeah. So Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that this attack is not, quote, “the end of the story” and that his military will continue air strikes on Hezbollah. And then the actual leader of Hezbollah – Hassan Nasrallah just spoke a few hours ago. He accused Israel of crossing, quote, “all red lines” by targeting civilians to kill the militant’s top commander in Beirut. He said that Hezbollah has refrained from attacking any civilians and has only attacked key military assets, and Israel denies that any Hezbollah missiles hit its bases.
MA: NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi reports from Haifa in northern Israel. Thanks, Hadeel.
AL-SHALCHI: Thank you.
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website Terms of Use And power pages at www.npr.org for more information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush basis by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative recording of NPR programming is the audio recording.
