The Israeli military on Wednesday said it was the “first time ever” a missile fired by Hezbollah had reached the Tel Aviv area before being intercepted by air defences.
It is the first time the group has claimed a ballistic missile strike since its nearly year-long battle with Israel began after Hamas carried out its October 7 attack.
“The Islamic Resistance launched a ‘Qader 1’ ballistic missile at 6:30 am (0330 GMT) on Wednesday, 25-9-2024, targeting the Mossad headquarters in the outskirts of Tel Aviv,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
“This headquarters is responsible for the assassination of leaders and the explosion of pagers and wireless devices,” it added, referring to attacks last week that killed scores in Lebanon including a top commander.
It also said the strike was carried out in support of the people of Gaza and “in defence of Lebanon and its people”.
Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile targeting Israeli spy agency Mossad’s headquarters near Tel Aviv, saying that recent attacks on the militant group had been planned there.
Military analyst Riad Kahwaji said it was the first time Hezbollah had fired ballistic missiles at Israel, adding that they were “Iranian-produced”.
“They’re all variants of the Scuds,” he said, adding that the missiles have a range of “not more than 300 kilometres (190 miles)”.
Longtime foes Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in near-daily exchanges of cross-border fire since Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.
The Hamas attack sparked a war in Gaza that has drawn in Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militants from across the Middle East.
The focus of Israel’s firepower has shifted sharply from Gaza to Lebanon in recent days.
Early Wednesday, a Lebanese security source said an Israeli strike hit the Saadiyat area near Beirut.
An AFP photographer at the site of the strike reported a garage was hit with a nearby warehouse for electric appliances also damaged.
The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes killed at least 558 people on Monday — the deadliest day of violence in the country since its 1975-90 civil war.