Reuters – Israel unleashed more airstrikes on Lebanon on Wednesday and Hezbollah militants fired salvoes of rockets into Israel in the heaviest exchanges between the arch-foes in a year.
Hezbollah claimed to have targeted the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency in Tel Aviv, Israel’s economic capital.
World leaders meanwhile expressed concern that the conflict – running in parallel to Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas – was rapidly intensifying as the death toll in Lebanon rose.
The Israeli military has mounted its heaviest airstrikes in a year of conflict this week, targeting Hezbollah leaders and hitting hundreds of sites deep inside Lebanon while Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets into Israel.
There was no let up on Wednesday. Israel said its warplanes were currently carrying out extensive strikes in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement it had fired a missile on Wednesday morning targeting the Mossad headquarters “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip…and in defence of Lebanon and its people”.
The Israeli military said a single surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by air defence systems after it was detected crossing from Lebanon. Spokesman Nadav Shoshani said he could not confirm what Hezbollah’s target was when it fired the missile from a village in Lebanon.
“The result was a heavy missile, going towards Tel Aviv, towards civilian areas in Tel Aviv. The Mossad headquarters is not in that area,” he said.
