December 29, 2024:
In September Israel launched a record number of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. This was to disrupt and possibly destroy the ability of Hezbollah to fire rockets into northern Israel. For over a decade one Lebanese group or another has been firing rockets into Israel, where casualties were low because the Israelis moved air defense systems into the area. Bomb shelters were provided for the civilians and an attack alert system was established. This system eventually used cellphones to speed up notifying civilians that an attack was imminent and where to find the nearest shelter.
In 2024 Iran-backed Hezbollah was the main source of rocket fire into Israel. In response to that, Israel developed a complex plan to cripple or destroy Hezbollah as well as destroying as many rocket stockpiles as they could find.
In one day Israel carried out airstrikes that hit over 1,600 targets in southern Lebanon. In the past year Hezbollah had fired about 8,000 rockets and missiles into Israel. After the September air strikes, the number of Hezbollah rockets fired into Israel fell to a few random rockets launched every few days. Israeli air defenses destroy nearly all these rockets and missiles.
The Lebanese government reported that that day of Israeli airstrikes had killed 558 people, most of them civilians. The Israeli targets were known Hezbollah locations, which were deliberately placed in areas used by civilians. Hezbollah hoped that the use of human shields would dissuade Israeli attacks. That never works and Hezbollah declares the dead civilians as involuntary martyrs to the Hezbollah cause of destroying Israel.
The Israeli air strikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon were the most intensive in modern warfare. The attacks did a lot of property damage to Lebanon but killed far fewer civilians than a bombardment campaign of that magnitude was expected. The Lebanese and their government were pleased with the destruction of Hezbollah personnel and facilities in their midst. Israelis were accused of atrocities but Hezbollah, the major terrorist organization in southern Lebanon was close to gone.