Israel's Response to Hezbollah's Extensive Rocket Attack on Haifa Port and Surrounding Settlements

Hezbollah's extensive rocket attack early on Sunday, October 1, targeted northern Israeli cities including Haifa port. Schools and many daily activities in Israel's third-largest city and dozens of surrounding settlements have been halted. The Israeli army announced that Hezbollah also used medium-range rockets in these attacks, hitting dozens of civilian targets. The army stated that one hundred rockets from Hezbollah were fired in one hour. According to an Israeli army spokesperson, the rockets targeted Israeli civilians. Israeli media released images and videos showing damage to homes, burning dozens of vehicles, and rocket debris landing in public facilities in northern parts of the country. Israeli relief agencies reported injuries to several citizens, most of whom were hurt while heading to shelters. However, Haaretz reported that a car accident during the siren alert for the rocket attack resulted in one death on the road. One of the injured was from the Muslim settlement of 'Jadideh-Makr'. According to Israeli army radio, with the increased range of Hezbollah's attacks, now one million residents of northern Israel must be near shelters and safe places. Haifa and the surrounding settlements, Kiryat Bialik, Yokneam, Emek Yizrael, and western Galilee settlements were among the areas targeted by Hezbollah's rocket attacks. Besides these areas, schools and many daily activities in government and private institutions in the settlements of Tirat HaCarmel and Kiryat Ata were halted. Rambam Hospital, one of the major medical complexes located in Haifa, and other hospitals above Haifa, including Carmel, Bnei Zion, Ziv, Nahariya, HaEmek, Poria, Italian Hospital, and Anglican Hospital, announced that they have moved their medical activities to underground centers and safe shelters. Rambam had recently converted a large underground parking lot into a facility for severe security conditions. A rocket hit an empty elementary school in the settlement of 'Aylout' near Nazareth, which has residents of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish backgrounds. The Israeli army had announced on Saturday night that, in light of recent events, a new directive for the lives of people from the northernmost point of Israel to Haifa port would be established. However, the continuous rocket attacks appear to be broader than the Israeli army's predictions. Israel reported extensive airstrikes on southern Lebanon; casualties from Friday's attack increased. Simultaneously, the army announced that it had attacked many launchers in southern Lebanon and beyond. The army, which intensified its attacks on launchers in Lebanon with dozens of fighter jets simultaneously since Saturday night, assessed that Hezbollah, in response to a series of operations attributed to Israel on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, was attempting to extend its attacks on Israel to points further from the northern border. Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the explosion of thousands of Hezbollah forces' pagers on Tuesday and then the explosion of hundreds of their radios on Wednesday, but it announced that on Friday afternoon, an airstrike on a meeting of commanders of Hezbollah's 'Rizwan' brigade in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut killed Ibrahim Aqil and several other senior commanders of this brigade. Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of Ibrahim Aqil and two other senior commanders of this force, as well as the deaths of 14 other commanders of the 'Rizwan' brigade. In the Israeli attack on Friday, at least 45 people were killed, some of whom were children and women residing in the building where the 'Rizwan' brigade held its secret meeting in the basement. Some reports from Lebanese and regional media claimed that Hezbollah had created a tunnel for its secret meetings deep within that building. Israeli media reported that the army became aware around noon on Friday of all the 'Rizwan' brigade commanders gathering in that tunnel, and Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the army chief of staff, who was visiting the northern command headquarters at that time, ordered an immediate attack on the tunnel as an 'exceptional opportunity' to strike this brigade. Israel emphasized that the killed commanders of the 'Rizwan' brigade had been training for years for their primary mission of attacking northern Israeli cities and dominating Galilee, and they had an immediate agenda to 'occupy' two settlements in Galilee. In the past month, Israel has announced that it is focusing the 'center of gravity' of military events on its northern border to safely return tens of thousands of residents of this area, who have been displaced to other cities for over 350 days, back to the north. The Israeli cabinet officially added this goal to the ongoing war objectives in Gaza last Monday. The death of two senior Hezbollah commanders in the Israeli attack; the White House's reaction to the death of Ibrahim Aqil. On the other hand, Hezbollah, in its statements on Sunday, without referring to the attack on civilian targets in Haifa and other northern Israeli cities, claimed that it attacked the 'Rafael' facilities in the 'Krayot' area in the suburbs of Haifa, 'in response to the explosions of communication equipment' of Hezbollah. Rafael is one of Israel's major military and arms industries with multiple factories across the country. Hezbollah also stated that it attacked the 'Ramat David' base located 50 kilometers from the Israeli border. The group announced that its attacks on Sunday are preparations for further attacks. Hassan Nasrallah, in his speech on Thursday, stated that Israel, with its actions (referring to the explosions of his group's communication equipment), has opened a new chapter in its operations. Israel interpreted the words of the Hezbollah Secretary-General as a sign of the group's expanded rocket attacks on Israeli civilian targets. The explosion of Hezbollah's communication equipment left at least 37 dead and around four thousand injured. The Secretary-General's speech occurred one day before the Israeli airstrike that took out the senior commanders of the 'Rizwan' brigade. Iranian media also reported over the weekend that Hassan Nasrallah had requested that Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, not travel to Lebanon due to security conditions. Hezbollah, which began rocket and drone operations against border points in northern Israel one day after the extremist Hamas group's attack on Israeli territory, continues to emphasize that it will halt these attacks only when the Israeli army's war in Gaza ends, as demanded by Hamas, and Israel withdraws from Gaza. Hamas and Hezbollah are recognized as terrorist groups by the United States and some other countries and are considered groups supported by the Islamic Republic in Lebanon and Gaza. Attack on Israel from Iraq. Simultaneously, Israel announced that it neutralized a drone attack originating from Iraq against Israel early on Sunday by intercepting the drone before it entered Israeli airspace. 'Islamic Resistance' groups in Iraq, which are Iranian-aligned militants in that country, announced that they had attacked both northern and southern Israel with several drones and cruise missiles. The Iraqi coalition of armed groups supporting Tehran claimed in their Telegram channel that they targeted 'a strategic point' in Israel 'in support of the people of Gaza'. According to the Times of Israel, two cruise missiles, apparently fired towards the southern Golan Heights, were intercepted by Israeli air defense systems. The Times of Israel also reported that a drone that had launched from Iraq and was supposed to reach southern Israel triggered the alarm in 'Be'er Ora' near the port of Eilat and was shot down before entering Israeli airspace. The Gaza war will mark its first year in two weeks. The Israeli army, which has largely achieved its two objectives in Gaza of eliminating the military capabilities of this group and addressing the security threats posed by Hamas to the lives of people in southern Israel, continues the war in this strip, announcing the goal of freeing 101 Israeli hostages remaining in Hamas's custody in Gaza. The White House National Security Advisor stated on Saturday that the Biden administration currently has no new plan for a ceasefire in Gaza. Jake Sullivan referred to the killing of Ibrahim Aqil as a realization of justice for his role in killing many Americans.