IDF shares findings from hostage shooting investigation as Hezbollah continues escalatory attacks

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FDD Long War Journal

Seth Frantzman

December 28, 2023

Hezbollah continued to escalate attacks on Israel on December 28, targeting border communities across the northern Galilee and launching a drone at Israel. The IDF said that a drone caused sirens to sound in the Krayot north of Haifa, an area twenty miles south of the Lebanon border that is home to tens of thousands of Israelis. The IDF said the drone was intercepted by air defenses.

The drone threat was part of a larger series of attacks by Hezbollah on December 27 and 28. The attacks began in the morning several miles east of the Mediterranean along Israel’s border with Lebanon. Israel has evacuated all of the communities near the Lebanese border in the wake of attacks in October. With most civilians evacuated and IDF troops concentrated along the border, Hezbollah attacks into Israel often do not result in civilian casualties.

The IDF carried out retaliatory strikes in response to Hezbollah attacks which expanded to areas near Metulla and the Golan on December 28. The IDF said that “a large number of launches were carried out from the towns of Ayta ash Shab and Ramyeh in southern Lebanon toward Israeli territory. Since this morning, IDF aircraft, tanks and artillery have been used to strike Hezbollah terror infrastructure in those areas.” Israel struck a Hezbollah military compound as well as a terrorist squad that was attempting to launch an anti-tank missile. “In addition, a terrorist squad hiding inside a residence from which launches were carried out toward Israeli territory earlier today was also struck,” the IDF said. Hezbollah has used anti-tank missiles in numerous attacks against northern Israel over the last two and a half months.

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Iran Speeding Up Transfer Of Precision Weapons To Terrorist Group Hezbollah: Report
Hank Berrien
Dec 29, 2023

Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and the backers of the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, is reportedly speeding up its transfer of precision weapons to Hezbollah as Israel is rumored to be preparing for a war to protect itself in the north.

According to Missile Threat, Hezbollah already has 130,000 rockets, and is considered the world’s most heavily armed non-state actor. As recently as Thursday, Hezbollah launched 50 rockets and missiles at northern Israel.

“We can no longer accept [Hezbollah’s elite] Radwan force sitting on the border,” Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser, told Channel 12 earlier this month. “We can no longer accept Resolution 1701 [a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution that bans Hezbollah from being within nearly 20 miles of Israel’s border] not being implemented.”

“The situation in the north must be changed. And it will change. If Hezbollah agrees to change things via diplomacy, very good, if not — we will have to act,” he said. “We will have to ensure that the situation in the north is different.”

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