On Monday afternoon, a Hezbollah attack using explosive-laden drones detonated in the northern Israeli town of Metula, killing two Israeli soldiers and slightly wounding another.
Those killed were identified as reservists, Sgts. Nahman Natan Hertz and Dan Kamkagi, both from settlements. Israeli officials said that the two had attempted to intercept the drone but failed, and it detonated amid a group of soldiers.
Reports are that the Metula attacks involved two drones, one of which was successfully intercepted. Hezbollah affirmed they’d sent drones against troops in Metula but also a number that targeted one of Israel’s Iron Dome platforms.
The drone attacks were seen as retaliation for an Israeli attack against a warehouse in eastern Lebanon, near Baalbek. That attack wounded three Lebanese civilians and destroyed the building.
In response, Israel hit back by striking 15 targets belonging to Hezbollah at a military camp in al-Lwazia. They also attacked buildings in Srebbine and Ayta ash-Shaab and reported carrying out artillery shelling near the town of Souaneh.
Such tit-for-tat strikes are near daily occurrences in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, with both sides retaliating, which then sparks further retaliation.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed concern at the “intensification of exchanges of fire” between the two sides. He was also concerned at Hezbollah’s wielding increasingly advanced weapons outside of government control, and strongly condemned “all violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
