"Israel intercepts Hezbollah missile near Tel Aviv in a significant first. Here’s what you need to know."

 

A Hezbollah missile intercepted near Israel’s economic center Tel Aviv is the first fired by the militant group to reach close to the city, the Israeli military said. 

Hezbollah said it had targeted the headquarters of Israel’s intelligence service Mossad, which it blames for attacks targeting its members, including the explosions of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies last week.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded waves of strikes since Israeli attacks targeting the militant group killed more than 500 people on Monday, the deadliest day in Lebanon in more than two decades.

Here’s what to know: 

• People flee southern Lebanon: People are fearing for their lives as they flee Israeli airstrikes. “There were dead bodies strewn on the side of the road, people with their arms blown off. Even the ambulances that tried to reach them were struck,” one man told CNN in Beirut. The city is providing shelter for about 10,000 people displaced by recent Israeli attacks.
• Children under rubble: Many children remain “missing under rubble” after Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, UNICEF warned. More children were killed in Lebanon in one day on Monday alone than in the past year.
• Senior commander killed: An Israeli airstrike killed one of Hezbollah’s senior commanders, Ibrahim Qubaisi, yesterday. The Israeli military said Qubaisi commanded various missile units and was killed along with two other commanders in southern Beirut.  
• What’s next? Israel’s military has vowed to speed up its “offensive operations” against Hezbollah without reprieve. Troops held exercises simulating ground combat in Lebanon, which the military has not ruled out. Read more.....