IDF: 90% of Hezbollah Rockets Fired from Civilian Areas in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Monday that 90% of the Hezbollah rockets that were intercepted Sunday were fired from civilian areas in southern Lebanon, a further violation of international law by the Iran-backed terror group.

In a statement, the IDF said:

Early Sunday morning, following the detection of preparations by Hezbollah to launch missiles and rockets aimed toward the north and the center of the State of Israel, the IDF struck Hezbollah targets that posed an immediate threat.

During the strike, about 230 launches and 20 aerial targets were identified crossing into Israeli territory.

The Hezbollah terrorist organization places its terrorist infrastructure in the middle of the civilian population while using Lebanese civilians as human shields. 90% of the launches were from the heart of a civilian area, near civilian facilities such as mosques, schools, UN sites, etc.

Hezbollah and Hamas, a Palestinian terror group, both follow the practice of hiding weapons among civilians so that if Israel attacks the weapons sites, there will be civilian casualties for which Israel will be blamed — even though intentionally exposing civilians to enemy fire is a violation of international humanitarian law by the terrorists.

Israel launched a preemptive strike targeting thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers before the terror organization attacked. One of the targets of Hezbollah had reportedly been Tel Aviv. Hezbollah was seeking to avenge the death of its second-in-command, Fuad Shukr, killed by Israel last month. Shukr was also linked to the U.S. Marines barracks bombing in 1983 that killed 241 U.S. servicemen.

Hezbollah’s very presence in southern Lebanon is a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 of 2006, which requires southern Lebanon to be demilitarized.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.