Lebanese Hezbollah announced on Sunday morning, August 25, that it had launched a large-scale attack against Israel in response to the death of a senior military leader killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut on July 30. In a statement, the pro-Iranian group said it had “launched an air attack using a large number of drones” on Israeli territory and against a “military target” which would be identified later, adding that its attack would last for some time. The Israeli army for its part announced that it was carrying out strikes in Lebanon after detecting preparations by Hezbollah to “large-scale attacks” against Israel. Follow our live.
“The first phase” of Hezbollah’s response. The Lebanese team announced that it had launched “more than 320” Katyusha rockets on 11 military bases in Israel, as part of “the first phase” of its response to the assassination of a military leader on July 30. In a statement, the pro-Iranian party specified that this “first phase” wast “completed successfully”specifying that its objective was to target the “Israeli barracks and positions to facilitate the passage of attack drones” towards Israeli territory “in depth”.
Tel Aviv declares a state of emergency. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a security cabinet meeting at 0400 GMT (0600 French time). Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a state of emergency across Israel for 48 hours starting at 0600 Sunday, saying “convinced that there is a high probability that an attack will be carried out against the civilian population also in other areas of the country.”
Israel says it is carrying out preemptive strikes. The Israeli military announced that it was launching preemptive strikes in Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah preparations to launch “large-scale attacks” against Israel. “Anyone in the vicinity of areas where Hezbollah operates must leave immediately to protect themselves and their families.”she had urged.