Another Israeli Killed By Hezbollah Fire While Reports Claim Group’s Arsenal Was Degraded (Videos)

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An Israeli woman was killed in northern Israel in a rocket attack claimed by Hezbollah on March 24, amid reports suggesting that the group’s arsenal was sharply degraded.

The deadly rocket impact was at the Mahanayim Junction. Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said that its medics declared the woman’s death at the scene, and treated two other people who were lightly wounded by shrapnel in the same aera.

Hezbollah launched multiple salvos of rockets at northern Israel throughout the day, despite facing pressure from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) which expanded its ground operations in southern Lebanon, the heartland of the group, in the last few days.

Hezbollah resumed attacks on Israel at the start of the war on Iran, ending a ceasefire brokered by the United States more than 15 months earlier.

The latest deadly rocket attack came after the IDF announced that troops of the Golani Brigade killed eight Hezbollah fighters during a raid last week in southern Lebanon.

The military also launched strikes against gas stations in Lebanon that it said are indirectly owned by Hezbollah through a company called Al-Amana.

In addition, the IDF announced that a naval strike in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, a day earlier killed a member of the Quds Force, the external operations branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The military said in a statement that Muhammad Ali Kourani had been “advancing terror attacks directed by Iranian intelligence officials,” adding that the strike was carried out by the Israeli Navy following intelligence provided by the Shin Bet security agency.

Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an IDF estimate, that Hezbollah currently has between 11,000 and 13,000 missiles and rockets in its arsenal.

An Israeli military official told the outlet that the figure represents a sharp reduction from what it was believed to possess just a few years. According to the official, it is about one sixth of what the group had before the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip more than two years ago.

The report does not align well with the intensity of Hezbollah’s daily attacks on northern Israel. The latest attack on the Mahanayim Junction is one example. Another is a rocket attack from just two days earlier that killed a person in the settlement of Misgav Am.

Videos released recently by Hezbollah also confirmed that multiple rocket launch systems are still being used, and even revealed that the group was still in position of advanced missiles.

One video in particular showed the group launching an Iranian-made Paveh land-attack cruise missile, which is said to have a range of 1,650 kilometers, in addition to what appears to be a copy of the Islamic Republic’s Fath 360 tactical ballistic missile with a reported range of more than 120 kilometers. The attack targeted an IDF base near the city of Safad in northern Israel.

There is no doubt that Hezbollah was weakened by the last confrontation, but it is also clear that the group remains heavily armed and determined to fight.

The war in Lebanon will likely continue even if a ceasefire was reached in Iran. Israel wants to occupy all the southern region, up to the Litani River, some 20-30 kilometers away from the Blue Line. While the IDF could achieve this, it will likely pay a heavy cost.

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