Israel – Lebanon: Hezbollah Missile Manages to Reach Tel Aviv for First Time
Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, one of Hezbollah's most important warlords, was killed in the Israeli bombing of Beirut
A dangerous escalation in the military conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite and pro-Iranian militant group and political party Hezbollah: on Wednesday morning (September 25), a Hezbollah-launched ballistic missile managed to bypass the preliminary air defense system and reach its target for the first time in the history of airspace over Tel Aviv, in central Israel. The Iron Dome system was triggered in the capital of the Jewish state, and the missile was intercepted and shot down by air defense systems. According to Israeli authorities, “there were no injuries or damage caused by the falling debris.” As the Israeli press notes, “no Hezbollah missile has ever reached so far south of Israel.” An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said Tel Aviv “immediately responded to the launch by bombing and destroying the base from which the missile was launched in Nafakhiyeh in southern Lebanon.”
According to Hezbollah, the coordinates of the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, were downloaded into the missile’s “electronic brain.” The missile strike may have been a “response” to the elimination of one of Hezbollah’s most important military commanders, Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, who was killed the previous day in an Israeli bombing of a residential neighborhood in southern Beirut.
According to the IDF, Qubaisi, also known as Hajj Abu Musa, was a “prominent figure” in the Lebanese Shiite organization responsible for precision missile units and played a key role in launches into Israel. According to the IDF, the operation also targeted other Hezbollah rocket commanders present during the attack. The Israeli raid killed at least six people, according to Lebanese authorities.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to bomb southern and eastern Lebanon for the third consecutive day. Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, have killed more than 600 people, while thousands are fleeing the south of the country and heading north to the border with Syria.
