Tensions flared between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah on Sunday as sirens were heard in northern Israel just as schoolchildren began their week.
?This morning in northern Israel: Children running for their lives on their way to school.
This is our children's reality in northern Israel. What would you do if it was yours? pic.twitter.com/SdBPzqpCPp
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 2, 2024
In a video circulating online, the young pupils could be heard running to shelter as their school bus arrives in Kfar Blum, a kibbutz near the northern border where students from the area study. After about half an hour of continuous air raid warnings in the Golan and Israeli communities along the Lebanese border, the Israeli military said shortly before 9 a.m. that the incident had ended.
Over the weekend, Israeli airstrikes hit Hezbollah sites in Lebanon after an Israeli drone was shot down over Lebanese airspace. In response to the downing of its drone by an anti-aircraft missile fired by Hezbollah, the Israeli Air Force struck a Hezbollah military compound in the Bakaa area of Lebanon, the military said. Overnight, Israeli fighter jets also struck another Hezbollah military site in the Bint Jabal area, as well as Hezbollah command centers near the villages of Kana and Rashaya in southern Lebanon, according to the army.
The back-and-forth began early Saturday when air raid sirens sounded in parts of northern Israel and the Golan Heights near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said a small unmanned aircraft had been intercepted over the northern town of Metula, though it caused no injuries.
Hi, how is your morning?
Here in the north of Israel, a group of school children starting the new week, had to run for shelter, after a missile attack from Lebanon!pic.twitter.com/D2O5quRKjO
— Arsen Ostrovsky ?️ (@Ostrov_A) June 2, 2024
Arabic media reports claimed that Israeli forces had also carried out operations in the Palestinian cities of Jenin and Nablus in the West Bank, with exchanges of fire.
Arabic TV channel Sky News reported overnight strikes by Israel targeting Hezbollah missile storage facilities and training centers in the Baalbek area of Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing missiles toward "Israeli bases" in the Golan Heights region, according to statements from the militant group.
The flare-up came amid heightened tensions along Israel's frontiers, with Israeli forces also striking multiple targets in the Gaza Strip overnight in response to terrorist rocket fire. The Israeli military said strikes had hit terrorist targets across Gaza, including eastern and southern neighborhoods of Rafah city, Deir al-Balah, and southern Gaza City, with naval missile launches toward northern Gaza targets.
