The Israeli Air Force has attacked several targets in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq on overnight on 24 and 25 August. Following the attacks, Israel has been threatened with retaliation.
The airstrikes on early morning 26 August in Gaza were conducted as a reaction to a recent rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory.
Three rockets were launched from Gaza on Sunday evening. Two of the three rockets were destroyed by the missile defence system Iron Dome, while the third rocket hit an area next to Highway 34, causing a fire, but no casualties or injuries.
This rocket attack is the fourth in the past two weeks.
According to a spokesperson from Hamas, the three rockets, were not launched by the group.
The IDF Spokesperson‘s Unit explained in a statement, “Fighter planes attacked several terror targets in Hamas‘ military compound in northern Gaza, including the office of a Hamas commander battalion”.
Furthermore, according to the Israeli forces, the targets included facilities and buildings from Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. The attacks caused no casualties in Gaza.
As a further reaction, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to cut the oil imports for Gaza’s power station by half. Netanyahu has not announced for how long the restrictions will be in place.
Airstrikes in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq
On Sunday morning 25 August, two Israeli military drones crashed, damaging the building of a media office in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Israel responded stating that the drone tried to prevent a planned attack of Iranian drones against the northern part of Israel.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the planning of a drone attack in Israel.
Furthermore, Israel also carried out an airstrike on Monday morning, 26 August, in the east of Lebanon, hitting a Palestinian base adjacent to the Syrian border.
According to Palestinian officials from the town where the attack happened, three airstrikes have been carried out, causing only material damage.
Hezbollah leader, Hasan Nasrallah, made a public statement in which he threatened Israel with retaliation by saying “Netanyahu, you and your army know that we‘re not joking. I tell the soldiers on Israel‘s borders, stand on the border wall with two feet and a half, and wait for us”.
Additionally, to the attacks on Sunday and Monday, Israel attacked targets of Iranian allied forces in Syria and Iraq.
In an unusual move, the Israeli army confirmed an airstrike on Saturday night, 24 August, on an Iranian-operated base in Syria, killing two members of the Lebanese Hezbollah. According to the Israeli army, the attacked base was planning a large-scale attack drone-attack on Israeli territory.
During the attack in Iraq on Sunday, 25 August, carried out in the town of al-Qaim, at least one field commander of a pro-Iranian Militia, the Popular Mobilization Forces, was killed in an airstrike by a drone.
A Lebanese news site reported that “An unidentified drone targets two cars belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces’ 45th Brigade in al-Qaim in the border region between Syria and Iraq”.
While Israel forces refused to comment the attack, American officials have confirmed the recent Israeli airstrikes in Iraq.
According to the New York Times, another airstrike on 19 July targeted a weapons depot in Iraq, used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which according to officials, was used to carry weapons to Syria.