The IAF scored a successful direct hit Thursday against Hezbollah's missile command center deployed in Tyre, which has been primarily responsible for targeting Haifa and its surroundings. The regional command center was located on the 12th floor of a Tyre building that the IAF destroyed.
Hezbollah maintains a number of regional command centers in southern Lebanon similar to that destroyed on Thursday. The organization calls them planning units. The unit in Tyre controlled a large number of 220mm rockets manufactured in Syria, which had caused most of the Israeli civilian fatalities.
The impact of the attack on Hezbollah's bombardment capabilities against Haifa and its surroundings is not yet clear. Nevertheless, Tyre will continue to be a target for the air force.
The attack against Tyre has not affected Hezbollah's ability to launch short-range rockets against northern Israel; most of the group's rockets in southern Lebanon are of the short-range variety, about 100 of which are being launched against Israel on a daily basis, with most falling in empty fields.
It is possible that Hezbollah, under constant air force pressure, will try to carry out previous threats by its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, and launch Zelzal-1 rockets against targets south of Haifa. The missile is capable of ranges of 125 km.
Israel Air Force warplanes fired more than 30 missiles at suspected Hezbollah hideouts in hills and mountainous areas in southeastern Lebanon Thursday night and Friday. The day before, the IAF scored a direct hit against Hezbollah's missile command center deployed in Tyre, which was responsible for firing rockets on the Haifa area.
The IDF believes that at least 200 Hezbollah operatives have been killed since the fighting began more than two weeks ago, a military source said Friday.
IAF warplanes struck three buildings in a village near the market town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon as they renewed attacks on suspected Hezbollah targets Friday, killing a Jordanian citizen and a Lebanese couple and wounding nine people, including four children, Lebanese security officials said.
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