BEIRUT: After a series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions, Israel launched intense airstrikes yesterday on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon. Eight people died, and 59 others were injured.

Israel's deadly strike came in response to Hezbollah's barrage of 150 rockets that ravaged the northern Israeli town of Metula, causing widespread destruction. This attack is Israel's most intense retaliation against Hezbollah since the beginning of the Gaza War.

Israeli warplanes struck while Hezbollah's top leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was delivering a televised speech.

Israeli forces destroyed around 1,000 rockets in Dahieh, Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Lebanon, which were positioned to strike Israel. The airstrikes also demolished multiple Hezbollah buildings and an arms depot.

Top leader killed
Israel killed top Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil in an airstrike in Dahieh. Aqil was the mastermind behind the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing that killed 241 US servicemen.