Hezbollah footage 'shows successful attack on Israel's Iron Dome'

Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had targeted Israel's Iron Dome air defence system in Ramot Naftali with a guided missile.

The Lebanese armed group's TV channel Al-Manar published footage it said was released by Hezbollah's military media of an attack on the anti-projectile system in the town.

The video appeared to depict a projectile hitting an Iron Dome launcher, but since the screen immediately went grey, the extent of the damage was unclear.

UAE newspaper The National reported that it was the same location as a different Iron Dome battery in footage published on Wednesday.

It depicted drone surveillance as well as artillery fire in the area.

Israel's military said it did not know of any damage to Iron Dome launchers.

The army also said on Thursday a soldier had been killed in a drone strike launched by Hezbollah, the latest fatality in months of border clashes.

Staff Sergeant Refael Kauders "fell fighting in the north" on Wednesday, the military said on its website.

In a briefing to reporters, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said Kauders, 39, was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack that struck the northern Israeli town of Hurfeish.

"It had a devastating result, of course, of a soldier killed," Lerner said.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the attack also left nine troops wounded, one of them seriously.

Lerner said that "Hezbollah… have for the last eight months been escalating almost every day their attacks against Israel" and "trying to penetrate Israel's defensive mechanisms".

The latest fatality takes the toll to at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians killed in Israel's north, according to the military, since the cross-border fighting with Hezbollah following the start of the Gaza war in October.

In Lebanon, at least 455 people have been killed, mostly fighters but including 88 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 36,654 people in the strip, according to the territory's health ministry.

A Hamas-led 7 October attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

There were also 251 people taken captive, Israelis and foreigners, 120 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 41 the Israeli military says are dead.

According to the Israeli military, 645 soldiers have been killed during and since the 7 October attack, including 294 in its campaign in Gaza.

(AFP, Reuters, The New Arab)