Hezbollah launches rockets into Israel, Blinken returns seeking Gaza truce

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at two bases near the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and a naval base west of Haifa on Tuesday morning just hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel to make another push for an elusive ceasefire.

Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to bring an end to the year-long war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza and its spillover conflict between the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel, which has intensified in recent weeks after a year of exchanges of fire mostly across Lebanon’s southern border.

After a heavy night of Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s south and the southern suburbs of its capital Beirut, Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at the Glilot base used by Unit 8200 of Israeli military intelligence, and the Nirit area in Tel Aviv’s suburbs.

The group said it also fired rockets at a naval base outside the port city of Haifa further north.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israeli authorities said air sirens were activated in areas southeast of Tel Aviv due to one projectile identified crossing from Lebanon and falling in an open area. Other sirens sounded in Tel Aviv.