- Against the backdrop of the Israeli ongoing war in Gaza, tensions between the Lebanese-based group, Hezbollah, and Israel escalated in 2024.
After the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel in 2023 and the ensuing war in Gaza, Hezbollah started firing rockets towards Israel, in support of Hamas. Since then, both sides have exchanged fire, resulting in an intensified fighting that led to an Israeli ground incursion into Southern Lebanon.
Although both sides agreed on a ceasefire, the fighting has seen major escalation and critical developments over the course of 2024, raising fears that the region was heading to an all-out war. Here is what happened over the course of 2024:
Exchange of Rockets
Since the start of 2024, Hezbollah and Israel intensified strikes against each other, with Israel targeting Hezbollah senior commanders. In April, Israel launched 10 airstrikes in southern Lebanon, saying it targeted at least 40 Hezbollah-related sites, including storage facilities, weapons and other targets.
In response, Hezbollah launched rocket attacks against northern Israel, leading to the evacuation of people living in towns near the Lebanese borders. In early June 2024, Hezbollah fired 15 missiles into areas in northern Israel. The rockets set fires in several locations, causing widespread forest fires.
Golan Attack
The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified, with both sides striking deeper into the other’s territories. In late July 2024, a rocket attack hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing 13 people, including children. The attack marked a major escalation in the fighting, with Israel blaming Hezbollah and vowing revenge.
The rocket attack hit a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. The Israeli military said that an Iranian-made “Falaq-1” rocket was launched from an area north of Chebaa village in southern Lebanon. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that “Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, the kind it has thus far not paid.”
However, Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement that the group “has absolutely nothing to do with the incident, and categorically denies all false allegations in this regard.”
In retaliation, Israel killed Fouad Shukr, one of Hezbollah’s senior military commanders, in an airstrike in Beirut, saying that Shukr had been the target of an “intelligence-based elimination” and that he had helped in planning the Majdal Shams attack. The Beirut attack killed 4 people, including two children.
A Cycle of Escalation
Weeks later, in August 2024, Israel carried out what it called “pre-emptive strikes” in southern Lebanon, ahead of a planned large-scale attack on Israel with a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles. Israel’s pre-emptive attack involved 100 fighter jets that struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels at several launch sites across Lebanon, according to the Israeli military.
Shortly after, Hezbollah announced it had attacked Israeli military positions as an initial response to the killing of its commander, Fouad Shukr. According to the Lebanese group, the attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets and a large number of drones. It added that all the launched drones hit their targets, listing 11 bases, barracks, and military positions in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
Middle East on Alert
Escalation continued between both sides, putting the whole region on alert as violence surged. On September 17-18, 2024, a wave of explosions hit pager and walkie-talkie devices used by Hezbollah members, killing at least 37 people, including children, and injuring 3,000 others. The attacks were widely blamed on Israel and Hezbollah vowed retaliation.
On September 20, the Israeli military carried one of the deadliest bombardments, targeting an eight-story building in Beirut’s southern suburb hosting a meeting for Hezbollah members. The strike resulted in the killing of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force commander, Ibrahim Akil, as well as Ahmed Wahbi, another senior commander in the group’s military wing, in addition to dozens of civilians.
Responding to the Israeli attacks, Hezbollah fired a barrage of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles deep inside Israel on September 22, targeting the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa.
As a result of the heightened tensions, the US announced it was sending a small number of additional US military personnel to support its forces in the region, fearing the outbreak of a fully-fledged war.
Targeting Senior Commanders
In a heavy blow to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, Israel killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburb (Dahiyeh) on September 27, 2024. The Israeli military said it had killed Nasrallah along with other senior commanders, including Hezbollah’s southern front commander, Ali Karki, in a series of airstrikes on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters.
The airstrikes caused massive destruction, creating a 20-meter-deep crater, levelling six apartment buildings, and killing at least 6 people and injuring 91 others. The elimination of Nasrallah raised fears over the direct involvement of Iran in the conflict.
Ground Invasion
On September 30, 2024, Israel started a ground incursion into southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said it had begun “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence” against targets and infrastructures of Hezbollah. Israeli artillery units carried out heavy shelling in southern Lebanon, in the towns of Marjayoun, Wazzani and Khiam.
A week later, Israel expanded its ground operation in Lebanon, announcing it had begun what it described as “limited, localized, targeted operations” in the southwest of Lebanon. The Israeli military struck the southern suburbs of Beirut, killing Hezbollah’s senior commander, Suhail Hussein Husseini, the one responsible for the group’s budgeting and logistics.
Hezbollah responded with firing rockets against Haifa city in northern Israel. The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah have caused dire humanitarian situation in Lebanon, with thousands of hectares of agricultural land burnt or abandoned amid worsening health conditions.
Also in October, Hezbollah targeted a military base near Binyamina city in central Israel, killing four soldiers and severely injuring seven others in the group’s the deadliest attack since Israel launched its ground offensive.
Furthermore, the Lebanese group’s missiles continued to hit deeper inside Israel, with nearly 250 rockets and other projectiles hitting the Tel Aviv area in November, destroying houses and injuring 7 people. The attack came in response to Israeli strikes on central Beirut, which targeted 12 Hezbollah command centers.
Ceasefire Agreement
On November 27, 2024, a ceasefire took effect between Hezbollah and Israel to end the 14-month fighting between both sides. Under the ceasefire agreement, brokered by the US and France, both sides have an initial 60-day halt in fighting, during which Hezbollah ends its armed presence in southern Lebanon while Israel gradually withdraws its troops to the other side of the border.
The ceasefire deal also involves the deployment of additional Lebanese troops and UN Peacekeepers in the south, with an international panel, led by the US, monitoring compliance. Thus, the US joins France, UNIFIL, Lebanese army, and the Israeli military in an oversight committee to provide the necessary assistance to make sure the deal is implemented fully and effectively.
Since October 2023, the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel killed 3,800 people and displaced over one million from their homes. On the other hand, it killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians in Israel, displacing 60,000 people.
