Israel-Hezbollah clashes escalate as over 100 rockets launched from Lebanon

The messages aren’t delivered quietly these days - they are sent through the air with deadly intent, backwards and forwards across the Israel/Lebanon border.

The past 24 hours have seen the most intense barrage of the past 11 months from both sides.

Overnight Hezbollah offered its “initial” response to the attack on its communication systems which left dozens dead and thousands injured.

Tellingly, in a statement the group insisted these salvos were not the direct response to the attacks on commanders or civilians killed in a hit on a residential building in the Southern Suburbs on Friday, the suggestion therefore those responses are still to come.

More than 100 rockets were fired from Lebanon during the course of the early morning - they went deeper into Israel than before hitting areas near the port city of Haifa.

Most were intercepted but some did land causing damage and some minor injuries. Hezbollah claims to have hit a military site, something denied by Israel.

Whatever the truth of that, their choice of weapon alone sent a message. Israel has been seeking to degrade Hezbollah’s positions with heavy shelling, even so, the militant group for the first time fired their Fadi 1 & 2 long range artillery missiles.

Their range and lethality are far greater than anything used before. They were featured in a video put out by the Shia group a few weeks ago, showcasing the weaponry still held in reserve.

They are not the biggest or most lethal, but they are the largest used so far.

By deploying them, the message being fired through the sky is clear. Even with the hits of this week and the barrage on the border Hezbollah is stepping up its attacks and increasing the power of its weaponry.

They may be down but they are not out and there’s much more left in the arsenal.

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