IDF: Iran ordered Hezbollah to carry out attacks in North
Iran ordered Hezbollah to escalate against Israel on Sunday, IDF Spokesperson Brig.Gen. Daniel Hagari said on Monday: “If Hezbollah fails to understand us, the response will be deadly.”
The debate has been ongoing whether Iran was involved more generally, with training, funding and logistics support, or with specific direction and responsibility for Hamas’ invasion of the South on October 7, but Hagari was unambiguous in his accusation on Monday.
Sirens were heard in western Galilee on Sunday afternoon close to the Lebanon border in Nahariya, Rosh Hanikra, Hanita, Gesher HaZiv, Betzet, and Shlomi. Hamas in Lebanon took responsibility for the rocket fire, in which eight were wounded.
Helicopter gunships responded by attacking military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
Besides Hamas in Lebanon, reports also emerged of Hezbollah destroying IDF border surveillance equipment to blind its early warning invasion capabilities, much as Hamas did on October 7. The IDF returned fire. Hezbollah also took responsibility for the firing of anti-tank missiles at IDF outposts near the Lebanon border, killing one man and wounding four others.
As a result, the IDF established on Sunday a four-kilometer “security zone” on the border to prevent any non-residents from entering the area.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Hezbollah to calm down and said that Israel’s patience was wearing thin, but that it also did not want to get into a war in the North.
A Hezbollah spokesman said: “There are incidents on the border, this does not mean that Hezbollah has decided to fully enter the war.”
United Nations peacekeeping force UNIFIL said on Sunday its headquarters in south Lebanon had been hit by a rocket: “Our headquarters in Naqoura was hit by a rocket and we are working to verify from where. Our peacekeepers were not in shelters at the time. Fortunately, no one was hurt.”
There have been sporadic incidents where Hezbollah or its supporters have attacked UNIFIL personnel with the peacekeeping group nearly always turning the other cheek and trying to downplay incidents.