The Hezbollah terror group has launched a drone attack on Mount Herman in the Golan Heights. The Israeli military has a key surveillance centre atop the mountain. This has been the first such attack on Mount Hermon after October 07, when Hamas terrorists attacked Southern Israel and killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians and took over 250 hostages, sparking the conflict in Gaza. Hezbollah says it will stop the attacks after the conflict is over. Israel had captured a large portion of the Golan heights from Syria during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Although it had hit other areas in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights repeatedly, Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it was the first time to hit the military target that is at the highest elevation in the Israeli-controlled territory. Israel has key surveillance, espionage and air defence installations on Mount Hermon where it overlooks the Syrian capital and serves to monitor Syria, Iraq, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia since the 1973 Oct. Arab-Israeli war in which Israel was attacked but came out on top.
The conflict between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel has been gradually intensifying for months, raising fears of a full-scale war, which both sides say they wish to avoid and diplomats are working to prevent it.
Hezbollah has ratcheted up its attacks, sending larger numbers of explosive drones, using a new type of rocket, and declaring that it has targeted Israeli warplanes for the first time, according to sources familiar with Hezbollah’s arsenal.
The escalation has tested unwritten rules that have largely confined the conflict to areas at the border or near it since October, keeping Lebanese and Israeli cities out of the firing line.
Israel blames Iranian-backed Hezbollah for the increase in violence and has repeated its vows to restore security to the areas close to the border with Lebanon. The Israel Defence Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest terror attack from Hezbollah.
(With inputs from Reuters)
