Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets at an Israeli border town on Wednesday and sources in Lebanon reported heavy Israeli airstrikes on a Lebanese town just across the frontier, following an escalation of violence in recent days.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been waging their worst hostilities in nearly two decades since war erupted in Gaza last October, stirring concern about the risk of a wider and more destructive conflict between the heavily armed foes.
Hezbollah said its Katyusha rocket attack on the town of Shomera at the border was a response to Israeli strikes on Lebanese villages including one the day before on Hanin, which killed at least two people including an 11-year-old girl.
Israel on Wednesday carried out more than 10 airstrikes against the Lebanese town of Ayta al-Shaab, about 3 km (1.6 miles) from Shomera on the other side of the border, a security source in Lebanon said.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had launched a drone attack on Israeli military bases north of the Israeli coastal city of Acre, its deepest strike yet in the hostilities that have flared in parallel to the Gaza war.
The attack appeared to be one of the most complicated announced by Hezbollah during the last six months, using drones designed to keep Israeli air defences busy while others laden with explosives were flown at the Israeli targets.
The Israeli military said on April 7 that it had completed another step in preparing for a possible war along its northern front with Hezbollah.
Though the latest hostilities have been the worst in years, the violence has largely been confined to areas at or near the Israeli-Lebanese border, with Israel occasionally striking deeper into the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon’s east.
Israeli strikes have killed some 250 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon since Oct. 7, in addition to a further 30 killed in Israeli strikes in neighbouring Syria. Overall, this exceeds Hezbollah’s losses in the 2006 war with Israel.
More than 70 civilians have been killed in Lebanon.
In Israel, 18 people – including soldiers and civilians – have been killed.
(Reuters)
