Hezbollah launches massive rocket barrage on Israel day after Biden envoy arrived in Lebanon

Hezbollah militants and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) exchanged rockets Tuesday after a White House senior adviser visited Beirut in a diplomatic effort to quell ongoing clashes. 

The IDF said rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel in the areas of Manara and Kiryat Shmona. In retaliation, IDF fighter jets struck Taybeh, a town in southern Lebanon, which – according to the IDF – was being used as a Hezbollah launch pad to carry out strikes on the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona. 

The IDF also said it struck a Hezbollah anti-tank missile launch post in the village of Aarab El Louaizeh from which launches were carried out on Kiryat Shmona.

And earlier in the day, IDF fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military compound in the area of Dibbine as well as terrorist infrastructure in Ayta ash Shab, another village in southern Lebanon. 

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Lebanon’s Civil Defense and Hezbollah’s Islamic Health unit said first responders pulled the bodies of Hassan Hussein, his wife Rwaida Mostafa, and their 25-year-old son from the rubble of a house that was targeted in the airstrikes. 

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Civil Defense responders were searching for more bodies.

The strikes took place a day after White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein visited Lebanese political and military officials in Beirut in an effort to de-escalate ongoing clashes along the border. 

Clashes with Lebanon have escalated in recent weeks, amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas. Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli troops along the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.