BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Hezbollah launched a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv early Wednesday, in a new escalation of tensions after Israel carried out attacks on Lebanon that caused hundreds of deaths and insurgents fired projectiles into wide areas of northern Israel.
The Israeli army said it intercepted the ground-to-ground missile that triggered the anti-aircraft alarms in Tel Aviv and central Israel, without any casualties or material damage being reported. The army also indicated that it attacked a location in southern Lebanon from which the projectile had been launched.
Hezbollah claimed to have fired a Qader 1 ballistic missile at the headquarters of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, which it blames for a recent series of targeted assassinations of its top leaders and for the attacks last week in which bombs hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens of people and injured thousands, many of them members of the political-paramilitary group.
According to the Israeli army, it was the first time that a projectile fired from Lebanon reached central Israel. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike against an intelligence base near Tel Aviv last month, but there was no confirmation. The Palestinian insurgent group Hamas repeatedly attacked Tel Aviv in the early months of the Gaza war.
The launch raised tensions in a region that seems to be heading towards another total war, as Israel continues to fight against Hamas in the Strip. A wave of Israeli attacks in Lebanon on Monday and Tuesday caused at least 560 deaths and forced thousands of people to seek shelter.
Whole families who have fled the south of the country have arrived in the capital, Beirut, and the coastal city of Sidon, where they sleep in schools turned into shelters, as well as in cars, parks, and beaches. Some tried to leave the country, causing a traffic jam at the border with Syria.
Israel said on Tuesday night that its fighter jets carried out "broad attacks" against weapons and rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa region in the north. The army maintains that it has no immediate plans for a ground invasion, but did not want to provide a timeline for its air campaign.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have steadily intensified over the past 11 months. Hezbollah has fired rockets, missiles, and drones towards northern Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and their ally Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.
Israel has responded with increasingly intense airstrikes and the assassination of Hezbollah commanders, while also threatening a broader operation.
The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the situation in Lebanon for Wednesday at the request of France.
Almost a year of clashes between Hezbollah and Israel had displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border before the escalation this week. Israel has promised to do whatever it takes to ensure that its citizens can return to their homes in the north, while Hezbollah has stated that it will continue its rocket attacks until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, something that seems increasingly distant.
Israel has moved thousands of soldiers who were in Gaza to its northern border. It claims that Hezbollah has around 150,000 rockets and missiles, including some capable of attacking any part of Israel, and that the group has fired about 9,000 projectiles and drones since October.
Cross-border attacks began to intensify on Sunday following a wave of explosions in tracking and communication devices that left 39 dead and nearly 3,000 injured, many of them civilians. Lebanon blames Israel, which has not confirmed or denied its involvement.
An Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed Ibrahim Kobeisi on Tuesday, who Israel describes as a senior commander of Hezbollah's rocket and missile unit. Military authorities indicated that Kobeisi was responsible for the launches towards Israel and planned an attack in 2000 in which three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and killed. Hezbollah later confirmed his death.
It was the last in a series of murders and setbacks for the group, which is the largest political and military force in the country and is considered the main paramilitary force in the Arab world.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that six people died and 15 others were injured in an attack on a suburb in southern Beirut, an area where Hezbollah has a strong presence. The National News Agency indicated that the attack destroyed three out of the six floors of an apartment building.
Hezbollah fired 300 projectiles on Tuesday and injured six Israeli soldiers and civilians, most of them lightly, according to the Israeli army.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 564 people have lost their lives in Israeli attacks since Monday, including 50 children and 94 women, and more than 1,800 have been injured.