IDF strikes 40 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, following shelling on Avivim

The IDF struck 40 Hezbollah sites near Ayta Ash Shab in southern Lebanon, including weapons warehouses, rocket launchers, and other terrorist infrastructure, on Wednesday afternoon, the IDF confirmed.

IDF Lt.-Col. R., commander of the Fire Support Center in Northern Command, noted that the strikes harmed Hezbollah in an "extraordinary way."

"The IDF and Northern Command will continue to thwart and harm the terrorist organization's capabilities. We will not stop until there is a change in the security situation and the residents return to their homes in the north."

The IDF noted that Hezbollah uses the Ayta Ash Shab area extensively for terrorist purposes, setting up dozens of terrorist sites used to target Israel.

Earlier in the day, anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon hit two houses in Avivim in the Upper Galilee on Wednesday morning. There were no casualties as a result of the attack.

The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen later reported that Hezbollah had claimed responsibility for the rockets.

While no one was wounded in the northern Israeli community, one caravan caught fire. 

Later, the IDF reported that it had struck Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon.

The Chairman of the Avivim residents' committee, Shimon Biton, commented on the attack, saying, "There's only wreckage and devastation, with more homes struck by anti-tank missiles. Over 20 homes in Avivim have been directly hit, and another 20 homes indirectly impacted, out of around 100 in the settlement," Maariv quoted him as saying.

Anti-tank missiles have routinely targeted Avivim.

Avivim community feels in a "state of exile"

Biton shared that his community "feels detached from life" and that they are in "a state of exile within the State of Israel." He added that nobody in Avivim is celebrating Passover due to their situation.

He continued, "It's disheartening that there's no policy, no sense of security. It's a somber holiday." Biton said this year's Passover is hardly a celebration without "truly feeling free."

"When I went to pray on the holiday, I felt like a stranger in a place that didn't belong to me," he said. "I was not in my natural environment with my rabbi or my community. This holiday is meant to unite us, signifying for farmers the shift from winter to spring, blossoming, and renewal. None of these elements are present today."

Biton concluded, "Despite everything, we are all people of faith hoping for better." 

Avivim is located less than one kilometer from the border with Lebanon. The moshav was established in 1963, primarily with immigrants from North Africa, mostly Moroccan Jews.