Hezbollah announces new missile by bombing army base near Tel Aviv

Hezbollah announced its new “Fateh 1” missile on Wednesday by targeting an Israeli army base near Tel Aviv.

“The Tzrifin base near Ben Gurion Airport south of Tel Aviv was hit this afternoon,” said the movement in a media statement. “It contains military training schools.” It added that a “barrage of qualitative missiles” was used in the attack, but provided no further details.

However, Hezbollah said in a later video statement that the bombing of the Tzrifin base was carried out with the “Fateh 1 surface-to-surface missiles”, used for the first time on Wednesday.

It explained that the missile has a total weight of 3,450 kg, a range of 300 km and carries a 500 kg warhead. The movement also noted that the Fateh 1 is accurate to within 10 metres and can be launched from fixed or mobile platforms.

While the occupation state did not comment on Hezbollah’s announcement about bombing the Tzrifin base, the Israeli army said in an earlier statement that, “Following the warning sirens that were activated a short while ago in the greater Tel Aviv area, one missile launched from Lebanese territory was intercepted.”

Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border exchanges of fire for a number of years, and even more so since October last year, when Israel launched its military offensive against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The ensuing genocide in Gaza has killed at least 44,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, and wounded 103,000 others. An estimated 11,000 people are missing, presumed dead, under the rubble of their homes and other civilian infrastructure destroyed by Israel. Hezbollah insists that it targets military bases in the occupation state in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Since 23 September, though, Israel has extended its genocidal actions across most of Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, with air strikes, as well as a ground invasion in the south. It has killed at least 3,050 Lebanese and wounded almost 14,000, including a large number of children and women. Around 1.4 million Lebanese citizens have been displaced by the Israeli offensive.

This is the fifth time that Israel has invaded Lebanon, having crossed the nominal border in 1948, 1978, 1982 and 2006. The apartheid state has occupied the Shebaa Farms area of Lebanon since 1967.

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