At least 11 people were wounded today as hundreds of rockets were fired by Hezbollah against the major Israeli city of Tel Aviv. A large number of buildings were reported hit in the attack, and there is extensive damage, though exactly how extensive isn’t totally clear at this point.
The attacks come after Israel attacked central Beirut with a bunker buster bomb on Saturday morning. At least 29 people were killed in that attack, and Hezbollah’s leader said the strike on central Beirut justified attacks on Tel Aviv.
Teams started conducting assessments on the damage in Tel Aviv this evening, though they said full assessments won’t be possible for at least 24 hours. This is one of the largest operations Hezbollah has launched against Israel, and the preliminary assessments is that the damage is in the tens of millions of dollars.
Israel’s military initially said 170 rockets were fired at Tel Aviv, and many were intercepted. Since that time, the reports suggest as many as 340 rockets may have been fired, though the injuries are said mostly to be minor, with only one person described as in “moderate to serious condition.”
A lot of the images so far show damage to houses and apartments in eastern Tel Aviv, and some cars burnt out in the process. Again, the rockets came close to evening, so it is not possible to say the full extent of the damage yet.
These escalating tit for tat attacks comes amid international efforts to broker a ceasefire. Most recently, Lebanon and Hezbollah agreed to a US proposal, and it is awaiting an Israeli response. There were reports, however, that Israel objected to any ceasefire in which France was in any way involved, and that may prove a stumbling block.
