Some victims are Electric Corporation employees working to repair power lines damaged in previous attacks by Hezbollah; IDF strikes terror group’s sites

The scene after an anti-tank guided missile was fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel, injuring civilians on November 12, 2023 (Screen grab used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

At least 14 civilians were wounded, including one seriously, in an anti-tank guided missile attack by the Hezbollah terror group from Lebanon on Sunday, the military and medical officials said. In another attack, seven soldiers were wounded by a mortar near the northern community of Menara.

The Hezbollah missile struck a number of vehicles near the northern community of Dovev, close to the border. Some of the victims were Israel Electric Corporation employees who had arrived to repair power lines damaged by previous fire from Lebanon.

The IDF said it struck the Hezbollah cell behind the attack against the civilians and hit several Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, including a weapons depot.

Two more cells that launched mortars from Lebanon at areas near the communities of Menara and Yir’on were also struck, the IDF said. In the Menara incident, the army said seven soldiers were lightly wounded and taken to hospital.

The wounded were transported by the Israel Defense Forces from the scene of the attack to a safer area where they could be treated by paramedics and taken to hospitals.

Ziv Medical Center in Safed said it had received 14 of the injured from the Dovev attack, one in serious condition, and the rest were lightly hurt. Another four soldiers lightly hurt in the mortar attack were also taken to Ziv. Rambam Hospital in Haifa said it had received three of the victims — all soldiers — who were lightly wounded.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, falsely claiming in a statement that it hit soldiers installing surveillance equipment.

Later, rocket sirens sounded in a number of towns in northern Israel, including Acre on the coast and Kiryat Shmona in the Upper Galilee. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

The IDF said some 15 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, with four projectiles being intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system. The rest landed in open areas, causing no injuries or damage.

The Hamas terror group had claimed that its Lebanon branch launched a barrage of rockets at Haifa, Nahariya, and nearby towns on the Lebanon border.

Earlier in the day, the IDF said it had struck a cell in southern Lebanon that was preparing to launch rockets or missiles at Israel.

Overnight, an IDF drone hit an anti-tank missile squad in southern Lebanon preparing to carry out an attack near Metula, the military said.

Since Hamas’s onslaught on October 7 and the subsequent war inside Gaza, where Israel seeks to topple the ruling terror group, the Iran-backed Hezbollah has conducted and overseen daily assaults on Israel’s northern border from Lebanon, but has stopped short of launching a full-scale campaign.

Israel, too, has attempted to walk a fine line, responding with significant firepower to attacks and attempted attacks, while trying to avoid actions that would escalate the conflict as it seeks to keep its focus on Gaza.

The persistent skirmishes along the border have resulted in two civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of six IDF soldiers.

A picture taken from the Lebanese side of the border shows smoke rising on hills near the Israeli town of Metula as a result of a strike reportedly coming from Lebanon, on November 11, 2023 (Hassan FNEICH / AFP)

On the Lebanese side, more than 80 have been killed. The toll includes at least 71 Hezbollah members, eight Palestinian terrorists, a number of civilians, and one Reuters journalist.

Saturday saw limited fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border, as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called to increase global demonstrations against Israel over the war in Gaza in order to put pressure on the Jewish state and its allies.

Nasrallah, in a lengthy speech, also called for dragging out the war “for as long as possible” to enable greater “resistance,” and sneered that only the US and UK were now standing with Israel.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking soon afterward, said that Hezbollah risked making the mistake of dragging Lebanon into war, and warned that residents of Beirut would pay the price.

As reported by The Times of Israel