The Iran-backed Hezbollah group intensified its attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon where Israeli bombardments killed seven of its fighters, including members of an elite unit.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the border between Lebanon and Israel has witnessed escalating exchanges of fire involving Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, along with Palestinian groups, raising fears of a broader conflagration.
Hezbollah said it carried out more than 20 attacks on Israeli military positions and claimed to have caused casualties.
In one of the attacks, it said it fired 48 Katyusha rockets at a military base at Ein Zeitim, near the town of Safed in northern Israel, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, marking the largest rocket salvo to be fired by the Iran-backed group since violence broke out last month.
The Israeli army responded to the fire towards Israel by striking “terrorist infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah, as well as rocket launch sites.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the Israeli army had shelled several locations in southern Lebanon in response.
Hezbollah stated that it has been acting in support of Hamas since the Palestinian Islamist movement’s October 7 attacks on Israel.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, and its retaliatory air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip has resulted in numerous casualties, according to the Hamas government of the Palestinian territory.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to discuss the latest developments in Palestine, Lebanon, and the region, as well as the efforts made to end the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.
The violence between Israel and Hezbollah has claimed at least 109 lives in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also at least 14 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP count.
Six Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, according to the authorities.
Hezbollah held funerals on Thursday for militants killed in southern Lebanon, including the son of a member of parliament.
Israel and Hamas have agreed to a four-day truce and a hostage and prisoner swap which is now expected to start on Friday.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stated that Israel had failed to achieve its war objectives and “the Palestinian people and resistance won a great victory”, according to the official IRNA news agency.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by /indidna staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
