Hezbollah’s Response: Israel Targeted Following Strikes in Lebanon:
State media in Lebanon said an Israeli attack on a southern village killed four members of a family on Sunday, with Hezbollah announcing retaliatory strikes, in the latest cross-border violence.
Cross-border exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah has been ongoing since October 7. Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, with Hamas’ ally Hezbollah stepping up its attacks on northern Israel, and the Israeli army pushing deep into Lebanese territory.
Lebanon’s state-run news agency (NNA) said “four members of the same family” were killed in Sunday’s attack in Mes Al-Jabal, reporting that the attack was carried out by Israeli jets.
He identified the dead as a man, a woman and their children aged 12 and 21, and said two others were injured. A Lebanese security source confirmed that “four civilians” were killed in the attack.
Abdul Munim Shakar, the head of Mes Al Jabal Municipality, said earlier that three people were killed, he said they were a couple and their son. The Israeli military said in a statement later on Sunday that “this morning … warplanes attacked a military position in the area of Mis al-Jabal, without giving further details.”
Hezbollah said in a statement that it had fired “dozens of Katyusha and Flaq rockets” at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel “in response to the heinous crime committed by the Israeli enemy in Mis al-Jabal”.
It later said it had fired dozens more Katyusha rockets across the border “as part of a response” to the Mis al-Jabal attack, and claimed several other attacks on northern Israel, some in retaliation for the attack.
“Approximately 40 launches from Lebanon were identified…many of which were intercepted,” the Israeli military said in a statement. “No one was reported injured,” he said, adding that the army “hit the source of the fire”.
It also said that “warplanes targeted Hezbollah military structures and terrorist infrastructure in several areas of southern Lebanon”. Lebanon’s NNA reported Israeli attacks on various locations in the south of the country.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced that a cease-fire in Gaza alone will end attacks on Israel, which it says are backed by Gaza and Hamas.
Both the US and France have made diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border.
In Lebanon, nearly seven months of cross-border violence have killed at least 390 people, mostly militants but, according to one count, more than 70 civilians.
Israel says 11 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its border. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from both sides.