By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2024-11-14 22:20:06 | Updated at 2024-11-15 02:00:50
3 hours ago
The number of daily Hezbollah rocket strikes against Israel has fallen by nearly half as officials say they are as close as they’ll ever be to reaching a cease-fire deal in Lebanon.
The Iran-backed terror group has consistently fired around 150 to 200 rockets every day in recent months, but the frequency has dropped this past week to an average of less than 100 missiles a day, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
In recent days, the number fell even further, with only 50 rockets launched on Tuesday and another 55 on Wednesday, marking a dramatic decrease following Israel’s ground incursion in Lebanon.
The Israeli military vowed to decimate Hezbollah’s launching capabilities after it began intensifying its own rocket strikes over the border.
Combined with the ground raids in southern Lebanon, the IDF claims it has significantly reduced Hezbollah’s ability to continue bombarding northern Israel.
While Hezbollah has suffered heavy blows in recent months, including the deaths of a majority of its leaders, the terror group still has the firepower to threaten northern Israel, which has seen tens of thousands of residents evacuated since the fighting began on Oct. 8, 2023.
On Monday, the terror group managed to launch 190 rockets at Israel, most of which were intercepted or fell on open fields.
Hezbollah has also found success with its drone unit, with a UAV on Tuesday managing to sneak through Israeli defenses and explode near a kindergarten in Nesher, a town southeast of Haifa port.
Despite the ongoing hostilities in Israel and Lebanon, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen claimed the Jewish state was close to ending the war on the northern front.
“I think we are at a point that we are closer to an arrangement than we have been since the start of the war,” said Cohen, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet.
Cohen, however, said that Israel would maintain a military presence in Lebanon in the event of a cease-fire to ensure Hezbollah cannot regroup in the area along the border.
While Israel agreed to leave the border during the end of the 2006 war, Hezbollah illegally remained in the non-conflict zone and built several hidden command posts that were uncovered during the recent ground raids.
“We will be less forgiving than in the past over attempts to create strongholds in territory near Israel,” Cohen warned.
With Post wires
