Hezbollah fires 30 rockets into Israel in overnight blitz as fears of Iran revenge attack mount
The US is rushing out an aircraft carrier fleet - including F-35 fighter jets and a missile-guided submarine - to the Middle East
HEZBOLLAH launched a barrage of missiles towards northern Israel overnight as tensions across the border continue to rise.
Israeli forces said some 30 projectiles were fired in the attack as the country gears up for a revenge strike from Iran expected in just days.
Iran-backed Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rockets and said it targeted a military base on Sunday night.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soon announced it was firing against the area from which they were launched and confirmed there were no casualties.
Tehran’s largest terror proxy Hezbollah, with as many as 50,000 militants, vowed to seek revenge against Tel Aviv for the recent assassination of its chief commander Fuad Shukr.
Iran itself also promised to blitz their sworn enemy Israel after the death of a high-ranking Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh during his visit to Tehran in late July.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, for almost 10 months since war in Gaza broke out.
Exchanges of fire across the border, where some tens of thousands have evacuated on either side, are now a daily reality.
Reports surfaced over the weekend that Israel is now gearing up for a potential attack by Iran itself before Thursday.
It was previously expected that Hezbollah would be left launch a retaliatory strike itself in response to alleged Israeli assassinations in previous weeks.
But Israel now expects a direct attack from Tehran in days – possibly before ceasefire talks on Thursday, reports.
As tensions bubble in the war-torn region, allied forces in the UK and US have shown concern about their civilians living in Lebanon.
The US has told its citizens to get on the first flight out available while Brit troops are poised in the region for a military-grade evacuation operation.
And US Secretary of Defence – out to the Middle East.
It comes after an Israeli airstrike hit another school in the destroyed Gaza Strip this weekend.
At least 90 people died according to the Palestinian health authorities in an area under Hamas influence.
The Israeli military insisted it hit a Hamas command post, killing 19 terrorists, but the group said only civilians were killed.
Why have tensions in the Middle East suddenly spiked?
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
After almost 10 months of war in Gaza, tensions have hit an all new high following a series of deadly strikes and high-profile assassinations by Israel in late July and early August.
On Saturday July 27, a rocket strike fired from southern Lebanon hit a football pitch in Golan Heights – a Druze village occupied by Israel – killing 12 young people including children.
Israel and the US both said Hezbollah, the largest of Iran’s terror proxy groups, operating out of Lebanon, were responsible for the deadly strike.
On Monday July 28, the IDF dropped an airstrike on an area of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, killing Hezbollah’s most senior military commander Fuad Shukr.
Less than two days later, at around 2am on Wednesday July 30, Israel killed Hamas’ top political leader Ismail Haniyeh as he slept in Iran’s capital Tehran.
Israel has yet to explicitly claim responsibility for the hit, but after vowing to take out all of Hamas last year, they are widely believed to be behind it.
US officials have also said they suspect Israel of being behind the assassination.
On the morning of Thursday August 1 morning the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced that a strike on Khan Younis, southern Gaza, had killed Mohammed Deif on July 13.
Dief had worked as head of Hamas’ ruthless military wing, the al-Qassam brigades, since 2002.
It marked another major loss for Iran’s terror proxy groups in the region.
Early reports this week suggested Ismail Haniyeh was taken out in a precision strike, when a rocket was fired from a drone outside his window and detonated inside the room.
Then an investigation by the New York Times suggested a bomb had been planted in his room at the military-run compound where he was staying and detonated remotely.
Unnamed Iranian officials also shared the explosive theory with The Telegraph, further confusing the murky details around Haniyeh’s death.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), concluded its investigation into the humiliating security breach on Saturday August 1 and said he died after a “short-range projectile” was fired from outside the building.
A statement shared on Iranian state TV said a 7kg rocket warhead was used in the attack.
Iran and its proxy groups; Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen all vowed to seek revenge on Israel over the assassination of Haniyeh.
Then, on the night of Saturday August 3, Hezbollah fired some 30 rockets from Lebanon towards Galilee in northern Israel.
Tel Aviv’s impressive Iron Dome Defence system launched into action, destroying “most” of the missiles and no one was hurt.
But the UK, US and France have all urged their citizens to evacuate from Lebanon as fears of a wider war breaking out in the region continue to spiral.
