Lebanese terror group attacked Mossad headquarters in central Israel with Qader 1 ballistic missile.
By World Israel News Staff
A ballistic missile was launched from Lebanon towards the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in central Israel Wednesday morning, the Israeli military announced.
Early Wednesday morning, a surface-to-surface ballistic missile launch was detected in the southern Lebanese town of Nafakhiyeh, an IDF spokesperson said.
At 6:30 a.m., warning sirens sounded across the coastal plain of central Israel, from Tel Aviv to Ramat Gan and Netanya, marking the first time since the outbreak of fighting with Hezbollah last October that a projectile has been launched from Lebanon towards the central coast.
The IDF said Wednesday that the incoming ballistic missile was successfully intercepted and destroyed by the David’s Sling air defense system.
“Following the sirens that sounded in the Tel Aviv and Netanya areas, one surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing from Lebanon and was intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array,” the army said.
No injuries or damage were reported in the attack.
Hezbollah later claimed responsibility for the attack, identifying the missile used as a version of the Ghadr-1, an Iranian-made medium-range missile originally designed for naval warfare.
The Iranian-backed Shi’ite terror group said it had targeted Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv, as a reprisal for last week’s pager and radio attacks which targeted Hezbollah operatives.
Dozens were killed and thousands injured last Tuesday and Wednesday when pagers and hand-held radios distributed by Hezbollah to its members simultaneously detonated in three separate attacks.
Wednesday morning’s missile attack came several hours after the Israeli Air Force bombed a Hezbollah weapons cache south of Beirut.
Shortly after the missile launch, the IDF said, Israeli warplanes struck the launching pad used in the attack.
“Following the surface-to-surface missile launch toward central Israel, the IAF struck the launcher from which the missile was fired in the area of Nafakhiyeh in Lebanon,” an Israeli military spokesperson said.
“Overnight, with the direction of IDF intelligence, the IAF conducted an additional series of strikes on Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanese territory.”
“As part of the strikes, the IAF struck terrorists operating within terrorist infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, launchers, and additional Hezbollah terrorist targets.”