Israel’s air defense system failed to intercept even five rockets fired from Lebanon at busy areas of Haifa city.
New Delhi: First Hamas, then Iran and now Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants are giving a tough rime to Israel. Hezbollah fighters rained “fire” from the sky on Haifa, Israel’s third largest city while more than 300 missiles were fired at many Israeli cities including capital Tel Aviv.
Five rockets were fired from Lebanon at busy areas of Haifa city, which Israel’s air defense system failed to intercept. One of these rockets fell in the busiest area of the city in which 6 people were seriously injured.
The biggest rocket attack was launched by Palestine-based militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 when it fired more than 5000 rockets in 20 minutes. Then, on October 1, Iran targeted over 180 sites in Israel. Israel’s renowned Iron Dome air defence system has been a matter of grave concern as its strike rate and efficiency have gone down drastically, failing to intercept the rockets and missiles.
Hezbollah militant group claimed responsibility for the rockets fired on Haifa and other cities on October 7, claiming they had targeted a military base south of the city with Fadi-1 missiles.
Footage taken in Haifa also showed extensive damage caused by the rocket on a traffic circle. Other videos showed smoke rising above buildings due to the bombing.
Hezbollah fired more than 300 rockets at Israeli cities. Apart from this, many projectiles were also fired. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sources said an explosive drone fell in Atlit, a coastal town south of Haifa in northern Israel.
Israel has acknowledged the failure of its air defense system as it said that two additional drones were fired toward the area, but were intercepted. According to Israeli rescue and relief services, the drone caused no injuries. The military said most of the rockets were shot down by Israeli air defense systems.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah confirmed the attack in a statement, saying that its fighters launched an air campaign with a squadron of drones against the headquarters of Israel’s special naval task unit Shayetet 13 at the Atlit base in which the positions of its officers and soldiers were targeted and the targets were attacked accurately.
In other cases, parts of rockets or interceptor missiles that fell to the ground started fires in the Mount Meron area of Upper Galilee. A residential house in Rosh Pina, a town in the Upper Galilee, was targeted and heavily damaged.