TEL AVIV — The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has for the first time
targeted a strategic facility in Israel.
Military sources said Hizbullah and Palestinian groups fired Katyusha
rockets along the entire Lebanese border with Israel. They said the
Hizbullah strike on Sunday targeted at least one strategic facility and
paralyzed infantry outposts and ground defenses over a 70-kilometer
frontier.
Meanwhile, Israel has reported the transfer of an advanced
Iranian-origin rocket to Hizbullah, Middle East Newsline reported.
Israeli officials said the unnamed rocket was the most advanced in
Hizbullah's arsenal and could strike major population centers. They deemed
the rocket the first strategic weapon of Hizbullah.
"Iran is providing Hizbullah with the best and latest of its weapons,"
an official said. "It's clear that Iran sees Hizbullah as its strategic arm
in the Middle East."
Referring to the rocket attacks, Brig. Gen. Gal
Hirsch, a senior officer in the military's Northern Command, said: "We have been preparing for this attack for a long time. On the
other side, Hizbullah has been preparing for a long time to abduct soldiers
and hurt them."
In one salvo, Hizbullah fired 120 mm Katyusha rockets toward an air
control center that monitored traffic throughout northern Israel. The
sources termed the center, which monitors air force strikes against Lebanon,
a strategic facility.
Officials blamed Iran for the Hizbullah strike, which continued despite
Israeli infantry and air retaliation. They said Iran has supplied many of
the 12,000 rockets and missiles in Hizbullah's arsenal in southern Lebanon.
One such missile, a solid-fuel variant, contained a range of 200
kilometers, officials said. Officials said this could allow Hizbullah to
target the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
The sources said Hizbullah conducted one of its most sustained rocket
strikes on Israel since its withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. They said
Hizbullah rocket squads, in some cases using Lebanese children as a shield,
fired scores of Katyushas and mortars on communities in northern Israel.
"As opposed to previous strikes, the rockets were aimed at the heart of
Israeli communities and they were very accurate," a source said.
The sources said the Katyusha salvo struck deeper into Israel than
previous Hizbullah strikes. They said that Hizbullah fired at least eight
Katyushas into Israel.
The Hizbullah strike began with a Katyusha salvo that struck an Israel
Air Force base on Mount Meron near Safed, where the air center was located.
A military statement said a soldier was seriously injured and the base was
damaged. The military did not say whether the air center, located about 15
kilometers from the Lebanese border, was struck by Hizbullah rockets.
"The Hizbullah terrorist organization launched a large-scale attack this
afternoon on communities and military bases in northern Israel along the
border with Lebanon," the statement said. "Hizbullah fired Katyusha rockets,
mortar shells, and attacked with sniper and machine gun fire."
Israeli F-16 multi-role fighters responded and struck two Palestinian
bases in Lebanon. The sources said artillery and helicopters destroyed most
of the 20 Hizbullah outposts along the border. Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, head of
Northern Command, said the Israeli retaliation was the harshest since the
withdrawal from Lebanon.
The sources said Israeli ground forces did not enter Lebanon. But they
said special forces were deployed along the border for operations in
preparation for a resumption of Hizbullah fire on Monday.
"The Israel Defense Forces has no intention to enter Lebanon by land,"
Adam told a news conference.
On Sunday evening, Lebanon requested a ceasefire through the United
Nations. Officials said Israel ordered an immediate halt in military fire.
During the Hizbullah strike, Palestinian gunners fired Kassam-class
missiles from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Nobody was reported injured.
The last Hizbullah rocket strike against Israel was in September 2005.
At the time, Al Qaida was said to have joined Hizbullah in the operation.
"They are firing Katyushas from the north and Kassams from the south and
we are building a wall," Knesset member Effie Eitama, a brigadier general,
said. "The initiative rests with the terrorist organizations. Everybody born
in the Middle East over the last 15 years knows that the Jews are fleeing."
Officials said the latest
weapon for Hizbullah has a range of 200 kilometers and is propelled by
solid fuel.
This was the first solid-fuel rocket procured by Hizbullah. The
officials, who briefed Israeli journalists on late May 28, said they did not
know how many rockets Iran had exported to Hizbullah.
Officials said the latest Hizbullah rocket measures 8.3 meters and is 61
mm in diameter. They said the rocket, with a 600-kilogram conventional
payload, weighs about 3.5 tons at launch.
Until 2006, Hizbullah's most advanced rocket was the Fajr-5. Officials
said Hizbullah received more than 100 such rockets.
