Jerusalem: Departing flights at Israel's Ben Gurion airport were delayed on Sunday (August 25) morning, stranding worried travellers amidst ongoing rocket barrages being fired by Hezbollah. This came amid the reports that an Israeli air strike on a car in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam on Sunday left one person dead. "You see everyone's face, everyone's scared, everyone's just waiting, sitting on the floor, you don't know what it's going to be," traveller Kayle Shapiro told Reuters from Ben Gurion's departures terminal.
VIDEO: Travellers scared at Ben Gurion airport after attacks
According to the airport's authorities, Ben Gurion is expected to resume operations later on Sunday, lifting a suspension imposed in response to the attack from Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones against Israel on Sunday in retaliation for the assassination of a senior commander in Beirut last month, the Iranian-backed movement said, as Israel's cabinet met to prepare a response. Israeli jets hit targets in Lebanon shortly before the strikes as the military assessed that Hezbollah was preparing to begin the barrage, Israel's military said.
Around 100 Israeli fighter jets hit thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels in southern Lebanon that were aimed for immediate fire toward northern and central Israel, the military said.
More than 40 launch areas in Lebanon were struck during the early morning strikes, it said in a statement.
Netanyahu's staunch message to Hezbollah
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take all measures necessary to defend itself. "We are determined to do everything possible to defend our country, to return the residents of the north safely to their homes and to continue to uphold a simple rule: Whoever harms us – we harm him," he said in a statement.
This is a developing story. More details will be added
