Hezbollah Fires on Israelis Rescuing Man Injured in Strike on Church in Northern Israel

Nine Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously, as they went to rescue an 80-year-old civilian injured when the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group in southern Lebanon fired an anti-tank rocket at a disused Greek Catholic church in northern Israel.

The Israeli military reported both attacks against the soldiers in the town of Iqrit.

The initial rocket injured as many as five people, including an elderly man who was praying at the church and may have been the property’s caretaker, according to reports from the Israel Defense Forces and local media.

In a statement cited by local media, Hezbollah claimed it was targeting the military, not a church.

Shadi Haloul, head of the Aramean-Christian Association in Israel, slammed the Lebanese terrorist group for its indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

"Hezbollah does not distinguish between Jewish, Christian or any other citizens of Israel - they are all Israelis to them,” he told Israel’s Ynet news site. “It uses the Christian civilian population in Lebanon as human shields.”

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli Air Force jets struck Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, and a surface-to-air missile launched from Lebanon missed an Israeli jet involved in the operation. Al Jazeera reported that six rockets were fired from Lebanon toward an IDF border outpost near Mount Dov. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for that attack. 

Earlier this month, Israel was accused of killing two women seeking refuge in a church complex in Gaza, and in October, Israel bombed the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City, leaving at least 18 people dead.

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday’s Hezbollah attack on the church was a violation of a 2006 United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire in Southern Lebanon.

And, said the IDF, the attack was “a violation of the freedom of worship.”