As acts of vengeance go, which is what Hezbollah says its strikes on northern Israel in the early hours of Monday morning were, this was not especially dramatic.
Six rockets, only one of which the Israelis deemed worth intercepting, the rest falling on open land.
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Israel seized its chance, launching massive air strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut.
There are evacuation orders now in place for anyone living south of the Litani river.
That’s around 10% of Lebanon‘s entire landmass which Israel wants cleared so that it can have a go at doing what it has always wanted to do – dispatch of Hezbollah once and for all, just as it hopes to do with the militant group’s Iranian sponsor.
The sounds of war
The hilltop town of Metula in northernmost Israel is the best vantage point over into Lebanon. Its name literally means “the lookout” in Arabic.
Beyond the concrete barrier which snakes along the mountainside between the two countries there are the shells of bombed out villages destroyed in Israel’s last war with Lebanon.
Now the sounds of this one ring out across the valley.
Machine-gun fire from Israeli attack helicopters targeting Hezbollah launchers. Grad or Katyusha rockets coming the other way. There is precious little time to take cover when fire is incoming at this range.
We filmed what we had to and left.
You take cover where you can
The IDF says they believe Iran and Hezbollah are coordinating their strike action, with simultaneous barrages coming towards Israel from both directions.
If the alerts sound on your phone, it’s from Iran and you have two minutes to find shelter. If it’s the sound of a rocket up in Metula, you take cover where you can.
The fight is on
Since Monday across most of Israel, there has been a lull in the pace of missiles coming from Iran.
Up in the north though, it’s a different story. You know that the fight with Hezbollah is back on and that Hezbollah is fighting back. You can hear it loud and clear.
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Lebanon is reeling from Israel’s air strikes and from the thousands fleeing their homes all across the country’s south.
The Lebanese government is furious at Hezbollah for bringing war back to a country which has suffered enough.
Israel is hoping to squeeze Hezbollah between a rock and a hard place, by pummelling its leadership and military capabilities and hoping that the Lebanese government, for its part, enforces the group’s disarmament.
At the same time, Israel says it does not intend to evacuate its civilians from the north, as it did after October 7th. It must not consider Hezbollah the foe it once did.
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Life scored by sirens
We were in a supermarket getting supplies. Another alert, and the tannoy directed customers to the bunker.
The first people in were Thai supermarket workers, who clearly weren’t enjoying their day jobs. Israelis seemed more relaxed. They are used to the sirens by now. One war follows the next in such quick succession.
But one girl stayed sitting long after the all clear had come, her head in her hands.
She was having a panic attack.
