Lebanon-based Hezbollah launched a barrage of over 50 rockets on Wednesday, targeting residential areas in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Emergency responders provided medical treatment to a 30-year-old man who sustained moderate shrapnel injuries during the attack. Additionally, one of the targeted homes caught fire, and firefighters managed to avert a potential gas explosion.
Hezbollah claimed that the attack was a response to an Israeli airstrike conducted the night before in Lebanon, which resulted in one fatality and 19 injuries.
On Tuesday, more than 200 projectiles were launched by Hezbollah towards Israel in response to an Israeli strike on a Hezbollah weapons depot located approximately 80 kilometres from the border to mark a significant escalation in the daily confrontations.
For over ten months, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaging in frequent exchanges of fire amidst Israel’s conflict with Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, in the Gaza Strip. These clashes have resulted in the deaths of over 500 people in Lebanon, primarily militants, but also around 100 civilians and noncombatants. In Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have lost their lives as a result of the exchanges.
The attack happened a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken engaged in diplomatic discussions with Egypt and Qatar in an attempt to facilitate a cease-fire in the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
While both parties said that there were still obstacles to overcome, Hamas issued a statement denouncing the latest proposal as a reversal of previous agreements and accused the U.S. of accepting new conditions from Israel.
Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war, continues to be a point of contention. The United States is the only nation that recognises Israel’s annexation, while the international community views the Golan as occupied Syrian territory.