Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets toward northern Israel on September 23, 2024, after Israel intensified airstrikes across Lebanon and warned civilians to leave areas it said were being used by the group.
The exchange marked another sharp escalation in the cross-border conflict that has grown in parallel with the war in Gaza. According to reporting in the packet, the Israeli military said at least 35 additional rockets or drones were launched from Lebanon into northern Israel on Monday, while Hezbollah’s broader retaliation included a larger salvo the previous night. Many of the projectiles either landed in open areas or were intercepted, and Israeli media reported at least one injured person.
Israel said its own attacks targeted Hezbollah weapons hidden in residential buildings and other sites across Lebanon. The military said it struck 300 Hezbollah targets on Monday morning and distributed images it said showed secondary explosions caused by weapons stored inside homes. The warning to Lebanese civilians was delivered through phone calls, text messages and, in some cases, radio broadcasts that the military reportedly hacked.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the Israeli strikes killed at least 558 people, including women and children, and wounded more than 1,600. CBS News described the day as the deadliest of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since 2006 and noted that the toll exceeded the damage from the 2020 Beirut port explosion. The violence continued into a period of heightened anxiety in both countries, with Israeli officials telling residents in northern Israel to prepare for more retaliation.
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said the campaign in Lebanon would continue until residents of northern Israel could return home safely. In a separate message, IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged people in Lebanon to leave buildings where Hezbollah had hidden weapons, saying raids would begin soon. The Israeli government framed the strikes as part of an effort to neutralize a threat that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from border areas.
The United States moved quickly to try to contain the fallout. President Joe Biden said his team was working to de-escalate the situation so people could return home safely, while the Pentagon said it was sending additional troops to the Middle East, though it gave no details. The U.S. already had about 40,000 troops in the region.
The latest violence followed a weekend in which Hezbollah had already launched more than 100 rockets in a single barrage, deepening fears that the conflict could expand beyond the Lebanon-Israel border. The group began firing at Israel after the October 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza, and both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Iran.
The immediate military balance remained fluid. Israel said it had broad target coverage and warned that the campaign would intensify, while Hezbollah signaled it was prepared to keep firing. But the broader picture was already clear: both sides were trading fire at a faster tempo, civilians on both sides were being displaced, and the main external powers were trying to manage the risk of a wider Middle East war rather than prevent one from already taking shape.
