Hezbollah rocket hits Haifa synagogue an hour after prayers

(JNS)  A Hezbollah rocket struck a synagogue in Haifa on Saturday, one hour after a prayer service concluded. The Avot Ubanim synagogue complex suffered major damage from the strike, but no one was hurt.

“This is divine providence,” Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav told Israel Hayom.

Five people were lightly injured on the way to bomb shelters in various areas of Haifa during the barrage.

Hezbollah fired 10 rockets in the barrage, setting off sirens in the Haifa Bay area, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Some of the projectiles were intercepted.

Fires in Haifa and the surrounding area were reported after the attack, as well as widespread power outages in the Carmel Center neighborhood.

“All emergency organizations arrived quickly,” said Amir Herel, commander of the Haifa district in the IDF Home Front Command, according to Israel Hayom.

“There were no people in the synagogue, but in the surrounding buildings there were people who experienced a significant blast,” he said. “But as I said, most of the damage is not physical. There’s damage in many apartments, mainly windows. Some vehicles were also burned.”

Hezbollah fired a total of 80 projectiles into Israeli territory on Saturday, according to the IDF.

On Sunday morning, 20 rockets were launched at the Haifa Bay and Western Galilee regions, some of which were intercepted and some of which impacted in open areas, the IDF said.

Sirens also sounded in Acre and the Upper Galilee during the morning hours.

On Sunday afternoon, one Israeli was lightly wounded in a Hezbollah rocket attack targeting the Upper Galilee. The victim, who was conscious, was treated at the scene by paramedics, the Magen David Adom emergency response group said in a statement.

IDF removing roadblocks near northern border

The IDF is removing military roadblocks near the border with Lebanon, Army Radio reported on Sunday. The move is in preparation for the possible return of displaced residents to their homes, according to the report.

“The reality in the north has changed. There are no longer areas where travel is impossible. There’s no need for detour routes anymore—civilians can now drive on these roads. Traffic is unrestricted due to the IDF’s control within Lebanese territory,” military sources told the news outlet.

Meanwhile, the IDF on Saturday night declared the areas of Metula and Moshav Kfar Yuval in northern Israel closed military zones. Entry is prohibited for civilians until Sunday night.

The move comes amid IDF ground operations in Southern Lebanon that began in early October.

IAF strikes Hezbollah targets in Tyre, Beirut

The Israeli Air Force overnight Saturday struck Hezbollah targets in the Tyre area in Southern Lebanon and in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh south of Beirut. The targets included command centers, weapons storage facilities and terror infrastructure sites, according to the IDF.

In Tyre, the strikes targeted several military assets belonging to Hezbollah’s Aziz Unit, which according to the Israeli military is responsible for carrying out attacks against Israel from southwestern Lebanon.

Fifty Hezbollah targets were hit in Dahieh over the past week, according to the IDF, and the strikes continued on Sunday morning.

The IDF emphasized that civilians were given advanced warning before the strikes and many steps were taken to minimize the harm to noncombatants. The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of systematically embedding its infrastructure into Lebanon’s civilian population.

“This is a further example of Hezbollah’s cynical abuse of civilian areas for military activities that deliberately endangers the lives of Lebanese civilians,” the IDF said.

Lebanese government reviewing U.S. ceasefire proposal

Beirut is reviewing a draft proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanese officials told AFP on Friday.

A senior Lebanese government official confirmed that U.S. Ambassador Lisa Johnson had presented a 13-point proposal to Lebanese officials on Thursday.

Johnson delivered the document to Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the head of the Hezbollah-aligned Amal movement, according to the report.

The proposal includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon would redeploy its troops along the border.

According to the official, Jerusalem has not responded to the plan.

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer discussed the proposal with U.S. President-elect Trump during a visit to his Florida estate on Nov. 10, The Washington Post reported on Nov. 13.

The discussions at Mar-a-Lago centered on a ceasefire that would involve Western and Russian cooperation, according to the Post. The proposal calls for Moscow to prevent Hezbollah from resupplying via Syrian land routes.

Following his meetings in Florida with Trump, Dermer headed to Washington to meet on Nov. 11 and 12 with Biden administration officials, including Amos Hochstein, the president’s special envoy to Lebanon.

According to Israeli officials, the plan also includes moving the Hezbollah terrorist group north of the Litani River. The Lebanese military would then take control of the border area, overseen by the United States and Britain.

A source close to the Iranian terrorist proxy told the Post that Hezbollah would be willing to withdraw its forces north of the Litani as part of a temporary ceasefire deal.

Hezbollah began launching thousands of rockets, missiles and drones at Israel the day after Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. More than 60,000 Israeli citizens remain internally displaced from their homes in the north due to the ongoing Hezbollah attacks.

Israel is closer to reaching a deal to stop the fighting with Hezbollah than it has been since the start of the war, but must retain the freedom to act in Lebanon should any deal be violated, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Thursday.

“We will be less forgiving than in the past over attempts to create strongholds in territory near Israel,” Cohen told Reuters.

A senior Israeli diplomatic official told Israel Hayom last Saturday that there has been a significant breakthrough in efforts to achieve a diplomatic settlement.

One potential sticking point, however, is the ability of Israeli forces to reenter Lebanese territory if Hezbollah attempts to rearm and reestablish itself.

The official emphasized that the IDF will retain operational freedom to respond to any security threats from across the northern border, regardless of any diplomatic arrangements.

However, a source close to Hezbollah told the Post that the group’s “condition for progress remains clear: Israel must be prohibited from conducting operations within Lebanese territory.”

Ali Larijani, senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said on Nov. 15 that Tehran would support a decision by the Lebanese government and the country’s “resistance” to halt the war.

“We are not looking to sabotage anything. We are after a solution to the problems,” Larijani said after meeting with Berri and Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

If the ceasefire efforts fail, an Israeli military official told the Post that there are plans in the works to expand ground operations in Lebanon.

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