Lebanon closes airspace, Hezbollah launches rockets at Israel

Beirut: Lebanon has announced the closure of the Lebanese airspace to aviation due to the Iranian drone attack on Israel.

“The Lebanese airspace has been closed to all aircraft arriving, departing, and crossing Lebanese airspace, temporarily and as a precaution, as of 1 a.m. on Sunday until 7 a.m.,” the Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh said on Saturday evening.

Iran has launched dozens of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) toward Israel which arrived in the Israeli airspace in the early hours of Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced early Sunday that its fighters targeted the Israeli Kela barracks with dozens of Katyusha rockets in the occupied Syrian Golan.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it launched its attack in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on safe villages and towns in southern Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes on Saturday night continued their airstrikes in multiple areas in southern Lebanon, paralleled with violent artillery shelling targeting many towns and villages, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua news agency.

The military sources, who spoke anonymously, said that Israeli warplanes carried out five raids in southeast Lebanon.

Eyewitnesses from border villages confirmed to Xinhua, “Dozens of powerful explosions reverberated in most of the border areas, and several drones flew at low to medium altitudes in the airspace of southern Lebanon.”

Moreover, Israeli artillery fired nearly 80 shells toward more than 21 towns and villages in the eastern, central, and western sectors of the border area in southern Lebanon.

The military sources reported that they also monitored the crossing of several drones from Lebanon to Israel, most of which were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 last year. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.