An Israeli website has released footage showing wounded Israeli soldiers being evacuated after Hezbollah's retaliation, disproving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that no soldier was even “scratched” in the attack.
The video published by Yedioth Ahronoth’s website showed an Israeli helicopter transferring the soldiers who sustained injuries during the Sunday afternoon attack to a hospital.
The Lebanese resistance group said two fighter groups targeted two Israeli vehicles on Sunday, adding that one of the vehicles escaped but the other one was destroyed on the road to the Avivim barracks in northern Israel and all those on board were either killed or injured.
The attack came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reiterated the group’s determination to give a response to Israel over its recent drone incursion into Lebanon.
On August 25, Israel orchestrated a failed bombing mission by flying drones on Beirut’s Dahieh region. The attack came to a swift end after a first drone fell on a building housing Hezbollah’s media office and a second one crashed in an empty plot nearby after being detonated in the air.
On Sunday, the Times of Israel claimed that the video was of a “staged” rescue operation aimed to convince Hezbollah that it had retaliated for the Israeli strikes and subsequently holds its fire.
But the daily’s claims contradicted Netanyahu’s statements that the attack had no casualties.
“We were attacked by a few anti-tank missiles. We responded with 100 shells, aerial fire and various measures. We are in consultations about what's to come,” Netanyahu said at the start of a meeting with Honduras' president in Jerusalem al-Quds on Sunday.
“I can make an important announcement – we have no casualties, no wounded, not even a scratch,” Netanyahu added.
Bahrain raps Hezbollah retaliation
Israel's hostilities against Lebanon received surprising support from Bahrain, with Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa taking a swipe at Lebanon's government for not taking action against Hezbollah.
“It is unacceptable for Lebanon to be put in a situation of a possibility of a devastating war in which it has no glory or use,” he said in a tweet.
Manama has urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country ”immediately.”
Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, however, stressed support for the Lebanese resistance, saying words are not enough to deter Israeli aggression on the Arab country.
“Words of condemnation alone will not stop the continuous Israeli aggression on Lebanon,” Berri said.
He also stressed that the unity of the “golden trio” of the Lebanese “people, Army and resistance” was necessary to protect the country from “Israeli ambitions.”
Berri also thanked Lebanese leaders for their “unity” in response to Israel’s actions.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun said after the Israeli attacks late last month that his country has the right to respond to the attack.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri also urged the international community to put pressure on Tel Aviv to refrain from committing any further acts of aggression against Lebanon.