Jerusalem: Hezbollah militants launched about 35 rockets at northern Israel on Sunday, prompting another round of Israeli strikes, IDF said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the rockets were fired towards the Meron area in Upper Galilee. Seven of the launches were intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, Xinhua news agency reported.
Following the rockets, Israel launched an artillery attack at the towns of Habbariyeh and Kounine and southern Lebanon, Israel’s Ynet news site reported.
Hezbollah assumed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement that “dozens of rockets” were fired in response to a deadly Israeli airstrike on a house in the Khirbet Selm area on Saturday.
According to Lebanon’s official National News Agency, at least five people, including four from the same family, were killed in the attack and nine were wounded.
According to the IDF, the airstrike on Khirbet Selm targeted a military structure in which Hezbollah militants were identified.
Also, overnight, Israeli warplanes struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the area of Ayta ash Shab, and an anti-tank missile launch post in the area of Maroun El Ras.
The violence was the latest in cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which started on Oct. 7, following Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel and the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
(IANS)