BEIRUT, 18 march. - (ANA)- Hezbollah said that it had launched a military operation against Israel, dubbed 'Khaibar 1', in response to Israel’s deadly strikes across Lebanon, occurring as part of the Middle East crisis triggered by the war on Iran.

 

On Tuesday, the Tehran-backed group targeted settlements in northern Israel as well as military bases with a barrage of rockets, which the group confirmed to be in retaliation for Tel Aviv’s intensified military campaign in Lebanon, ongoing since 2 March.

 

Israeli media said at least 40 rockets were launched in northern Israeli towns and settlements, including Nahariya, Kiryat Shmona, Metula, Malkiya, Dishon, and Avivim, with sirens sounding off in Haifa, Krayot, Karmiel, Hadera, the Upper Galilee, and the Western Galilee.

 

A rocket directly hit a building in Karmiel, causing significant damage but no injuries, according to Israel's Channel 12.

 

The Israeli army confirmed that Hezbollah launched attacks on "several locations within Israeli territory".

 

Sirens were also activated in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Channel 12 said, towards which Hezbollah launched a long-range missile, approximately 100 kilometres from southern Lebanon.

 

In addition to attacks on northern Israel, Hezbollah said it targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and vehicles with artillery shells in the Jabal Wardeh area of ??the border town of Markaba in southern Lebanon.

 

Israeli forces were also targeted in Mays al-Jabal, al-Assi, Maroun al-Rass, and Khirbet al-Manara, among other areas where Israeli soldiers are stationed.

 

On Tuesday evening, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem stressed the need to continue the "resistance" against Israel and outlined four demands for a solution: a halt to Israeli aggression, withdrawal from the occupied territories, the release of prisoners, and the return of displaced persons, along with the commencement of reconstruction.

 

The name Khaibar-1 refers to a Syrian-made artillery rocket used by Hezbollah against targets in northern Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War.

 

Israeli attacks have killed at least 912 people and wounded 2,221 in Lebanon as of Tuesday, while over a million people have been forcibly displaced in the country.

 

Lebanon was drawn into the US-Israeli war on Iran after Hezbollah launched rocket fire into Israel in response to the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the war in Iran, which has killed at least 1,444 Iranians.

 

Iran's ambassador to Beirut, Mohammad Sheibani, told the Al-Akhbar newspaper that Iran would not "accept a ceasefire without one in Lebanon".

 

Israel has since responded with relentless bombing in south and east Lebanon, as well as the capital, Beirut.

 

Israel had already been striking southern Lebanon on a near-daily basis in violation of the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

 

Israeli forces continued their attacks on Lebanon overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday, hitting residential buildings in central Beirut and other parts of the country.

 

At least 12 people have been killed as of Wednesday in strikes on the capital’s centre, particularly in the neighbourhoods of Basta and Zuqaq al-Blat.

 

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, footage showed Israeli shelling completely flattening a 15-storey building in the central Beirut neighbourhood of Bashoura.

 

Israeli bombardment has also killed at least four in Tyre, four in the Bekaa Valley’s Sahmar, two in Sidon, and one in the Bint Jbeil district - all in the south and east.

 

The Israeli military said it also intends to strike crossings on the southern Litani River, where it has ordered civilians to leave.

 

Speaking on the current escalation in Lebanon, France’s special envoy to the country said it would be "unreasonable to expect Lebanon's government to disarm Hezbollah while the country is being bombed by Israel".

 

Hezbollah’s disarmament has been a contentious issue in the country, as it remains among the US's and Israel’s "key demands" for the group amid the conflict.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/18 March 2026  - - -