NAHARIYA, Israel (AP) — Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early Sunday across northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon. A Hezbollah leader declared an “open-ended battle of reckoning” was underway as both sides appeared to be spiraling closer toward all-out war.
The overnight rocket barrage was in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon that have killed dozens, including a veteran Hezbollah commander, and an unprecedented attack targeting the group’s communications devices. Air raid sirens across northern Israel sent hundreds of thousands of people scrambling into shelters.
One rocket struck near a residential building in Kiryat Bialik, a city near Haifa, wounding at least three people and setting buildings and cars on fire. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said four people were wounded by shrapnel in the barrage.
Avi Vazana raced to a shelter with his wife and 9-month-old baby before he heard the rocket hitting in Kiryat Bialik. Then he went back outside to see if anyone was hurt.
“I ran without shoes, without a shirt, only with pants. I ran to this house when everything was still on fire to try to find if there are other people,” he said.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that three people were killed and another four wounded in Israeli strikes near the border, without saying whether they were civilians or combatants.
Hezbollah responds to unprecedented blows, ratchets up rhetoric
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Kassem said his group is now in an ″open-ended battle of reckoning” with Israel, threatening more displacement for people in Israel’s north.
“We admit that we are pained. We are humans. But as we are pained — you will also be pained,” Kassem said at the funeral of top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil. He said a barrage of rockets fired by the group deep into Israel early Sunday was only the beginning, vowing to destroy Israel’s economy.
The rocket barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday killed at least 45 people, including one of Hezbollah’s top leadersr and several other fighters, as well as women and children. Hezbollah was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies to explode just days earlier.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take whatever action was necessary to restore security in the north and allow people to return to their homes.
“No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either,” he said.
The Israeli military said it carried out strikes across southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, hitting about 400 militant sites, including rocket launchers. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said those strikes had thwarted an even larger attack.
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A man looks at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
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Israeli security forces examine the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
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Israeli security forces examine the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
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Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
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Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
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Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
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Municipality workers hang an Israeli flag over a damaged building that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
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An Israeli police officer examines the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
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Lebanese soldiers stand guard near the site of Friday’s Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Lebanese soldiers drive near the site of Friday’s Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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A man walks with a suitcase as Lebanese soldiers drive near the site of Friday’s Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Lebanese soldiers stand guard near the site of Friday’s Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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A man looks at a house hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Moreshet, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
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People look at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Moreshet, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
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