Tehran, IRNA – The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has announced the successful conclusion of the first phase of a highly-anticipated retaliatory response to Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah top commander Fuad Shukr.

Hezbollah said in a statement on Sunday that it has fired at least 320 Katyusha missiles at Israeli barracks and military bases with the aim of facilitating the passage of attack drones toward their intended target deep inside the occupied territories.

“All the attack drones were launched at the specified times and from all their predetermined positions, crossing the Lebanese-Palestinian borders towards the desired target and from multiple paths”, Hezbollah said, adding that its “military operation for today has been completed and accomplished.”

The movement said the military positions that were targeted and damaged include bases of Miron, Navi Ziv, Zaatoun, Al-Sahel, Ein Zitim, and the bases of Nafah and Yarden, both located in the occupied Golan Heights.

Barracks of UF and Kilaa, also located in the occupied Golan, as well as barracks of Al-Zaoura and Ramot Naftali were other Israeli military positions targeted and damaged in the first phase of Hezbollah’s retaliatory response, according to the statement.

Further in its statement, Hezbollah dismissed Israel’s “empty” claims about its preemptive action and disrupting the resistance movement’s attack.

“The enemy's claims about the preemptive action it carried out, the targets it achieved, and its disruption of the resistance's attack are empty claims and contradict the facts on the ground.”

Hezbollah said those claims will be refuted by its Secretary General Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah in a speech he will make later on Sunday.

The movement has also said it is at the highest level of preparation and will give a very severe response to any act of aggression by the Israeli regime, particularly if it harms civilians.

Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander, was killed in what Israel had called a targeted strike on southern suburb of Lebanon’s capita Beirut on July 30.

A day after, Israel also assassinated the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement Ismail Haniyeh at a guest house in the Iranian capital Tehran hours after he attended the inaugural of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran has also promised a retaliatory response to Israel’s killing of Haniyeh, which the Islamic Republic says has violated its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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