In a shocking new escalation that has stunned Israeli military commanders, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed Arab fighters have launched a surprise multi-front ground and rocket ᴀssault on Israeli positions, just hours after Iran’s advanced “Dancing Missile” (Sejjil) barrage rocked central Israel.
According to IDF sources and footage circulating online, a coordinated attack involving anti-tank guided missiles and heavy rocket fire targeted Israeli armored units along the northern border and in the Galilee region. One Merkava IV tank was directly hit and destroyed in a dramatic fireball, with the crew reported injured. Several other armored vehicles were damaged in what Israeli officials described as a “well-planned ambush.”
The ᴀssault came without significant warning, catching Israeli forces off guard despite weeks of heightened alert. Hezbollah claimed responsibility, calling it “the beginning of the real response to Zionist aggression.” The timing appears deliberate — coming immediately after Iran’s Sejjil missile strikes that already overwhelmed parts of Israel’s air defense network.
This marks a dangerous shift from purely missile-based attacks to combined ground and rocket operations. Israeli reservists have been urgently called up, and the IDF has acknowledged “intense exchanges” along the Lebanon border.
Meanwhile, the broader US-led Operation Epic Fury continues to face serious challenges. The United States has already spent more than $11 billion in munitions in just two weeks. Both the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln remain severely limited by repeated fires and Iranian missile damage. Critical radar systems across the Gulf have been destroyed, and interceptor stockpiles are critically low.
As smoke rises from the burning Merkava tank and sirens continue to wail across northern Israel, many Israelis are quietly asking whether the war is spiraling out of control. What was promised as a swift campaign to neutralize the Iranian threat has now turned into a brutal, multi-front conflict where even advanced Israeli armor is vulnerable.
The “Dancing Missile” shook the skies. Now, the ground is burning. And the pressure on Israel is mounting from every direction.
The war has entered a new and far more dangerous phase.
