Hezbollah says fired missile at Mossad HQ near Tel Aviv as Lebanon death toll tops 600

Warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv on Wednesday as a surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by Israeli air defence systems after it was detected crossing from Lebanon, the Israeli military announced.

Hezbollah said that the building targeted was where the Israeli intelligence agency planned the recent attacks using pagers and other wireless devices.

The launch came amid Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon, which has killed nearly 600 people and forced tens of thousands to flee.

It is the first time that the Iran-backed armed group has claimed a ballistic missile strike since October when hostilities with Israel were triggered by the war on Gaza.

“The Islamic Resistance launched a ‘Qader 1’ ballistic missile at 6:30am (03:30 GMT) on Wednesday, 25-9-2024, targeting the Mossad headquarters in the outskirts of Tel Aviv,” Hezbollah announced in a statement.

“This headquarters is responsible for the assassination of leaders and the explosion of pagers and wireless devices.”

The group added that the strike was carried out in support of the people of Gaza and “in defence of Lebanon and its people”.

The Israeli military said it was the first time a projectile fired from Lebanon had reached central Israel.

Hezbollah claimed to have targeted an intelligence base near Tel Aviv last month in an aerial attack, but there was no confirmation from the Israeli side.

There were no reports of damage or casualties in Israel and the military added there was no change to civil defence instructions for central Israel.

The Israeli Air Force said in a post on X that its planes had struck the launcher from which the missile was fired in the area of Nafakhiyeh in Lebanon.

The Israeli army reported on Wednesday that Hezbollah had also launched attacks on the occupied Syrian region of Golan Heights and near Mount Carmel in northern Israel.

It added that the defence systems intercepted rocket and unmanned air vehicle attacks in the morning.

Meanwhile, Israel continued overnight and into Wednesday to pound Lebanon.

The shift of Israel’s focus from the Gaza Strip to Lebanon in recent days has revived fears that a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah could erupt, or even a conflagration stretching across the region.

The recent developments came as the Israeli military has carried out over hundreds of raids in dozens of Lebanese towns and cities, particularly in the South and East, as well as the capital Beirut, since Monday.

At least 600 people — including dozens of children and women — were killed and nearly 2,000 wounded.