Hezbollah Rocket Barrage Sparks Fires in Israeli Nature Reserves

Jerusalem, 4 July, 2024 (TPS) -- Israeli firefighting crews are battling blazes across the Galilee and Golan sparked by a heavy Hezbollah rocket barrage on Thursday.

The Israeli Nature and Parks Authority reported that all of the northern nature reserves were evacuated and closed while firefighters were working to contain fires in the Gamla, Nahal Dishon, Nahal Hatzur, Nahal Dalton, Nahal Meshushis, and Majrase Nature Reserves.

“We are going through a very difficult day in the north,” Nature and Parks Authority director Raya Shurki. “Over 50 employees of the Nature and Parks Authority are taking part in extinguishing the fires in the Golan and the Upper Galilee. We are working in close coordination and cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces and we want to thank them for that.”

Firefighters were working amidst a heatwave. Temperatures in some areas of the north reached 39°.

Following blazes in the Biriya and Kerem Naftali forests in June, Eddi Aharonoff, a spokesperson for the Fire Brigade told The Press Service of Israel that firefighters fighting blazes near the Lebanese and Gaza borders carry rifles and pistols, along with protection equipment provided by the army and police.

According to the Nature and Parks Authority, more than 43,000 acres of land in nature reserves, national parks, open spaces and forests have been burnt during the first six months of 2024, with 49% of the damage occurring in the Upper Galilee and Golan.

The Jewish National Fund reported fires at Hativa Sheva Junction in the Golan, Nahal Kadesh and Dishon in the Hula Valley, Kafr Kanna in the Lower Galilee, and near the tomb of Rabbi Yonatan Ben Uziel, a Roman-era scholar and mystic buried near the village of Amuka.

Residents of communities in the Upper Galilee, Golan Heights and the coastal cities of Akko and Nahariya were forced to scramble to shelters in the morning. Hezbollah said it launched 200 rockets and drones within one hour.

Israel responded to the morning barrage with airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed Muhammad Nimah Nasser, who commanded Hezbollah’s Aziz Unit. Nasser was responsible for rocket fire at Israeli communities and security forces.

And overnight, fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon areas of Chihine and Blat.

Around 60,000 Israelis living in northern communities were forced to evacuate in October when the Hezbollah terror organization began daily rocket and drone attacks. Leaders of the Iran-backed terror group have said they will continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes. Hezbollah attacks have killed 10 civilians and 15 soldiers.

Israeli officials have been calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from Southern Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.