The Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group said on Sunday it had launched a drone attack on Mount Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, where Israel has a key surveillance center.
It said it was the first such bombing since it began exchanging fire with Israel on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas’s Palestinian ally attacked southern Israel, sparking the Gaza war. Hezbollah says it will stop operations only when the war is over.
Although it had repeatedly struck other areas in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it was the first time it hit the military target located at the highest altitude in Israeli-controlled territory.
Israel has a key surveillance, espionage and air defense facility on Mount Hermon, which overlooks the Syrian capital and has served to monitor Syria, Iraq, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia since the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
The conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel has been gradually escalating for months, raising fears of full-scale war, which both sides say they want to avoid and diplomats are working to prevent.
Hezbollah has stepped up its attacks, sending more explosive drones, using a new type of missile and claiming to have targeted Israeli warplanes for the first time, according to sources familiar with Hezbollah’s arsenal.
The escalation has tested unwritten rules that have largely limited the conflict to areas on or near the border since October, keeping Lebanese and Israeli cities out of the firing line.
Israel blames Iran-backed Hezbollah for the increase in violence and has reiterated its vows to restore border security. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest Hezbollah strike.
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