Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it carried out simultaneous attacks on Israeli positions on the Lebanese border on Saturday, while residents of southern Lebanon reported some of the heaviest Israeli attacks so far in the cross-border clashes since October 8.
The Israeli military said its warplanes hit Hezbollah targets in response to an earlier attack from Lebanese territory, and that the airstrikes were followed by artillery and tank shelling.
A Lebanese source familiar with Hezbollah’s attacks said the group fired a powerful rocket that had not yet been used in combat, saying it hit an Israeli position across the border from the villages of Ayta al-Shaab and Rmeich.
Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces across the Lebanese-Israeli border since its Palestinian ally Hamas went to war with Israel on October 7.
It is the worst fighting on the border since the 2006 war, but it was mostly contained in the border area.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in his first speech since the start of the Hamas-Israeli war, said on Friday that the escalation on the Lebanese front would depend on the events in Gaza and Israeli actions towards Lebanon. He also said that the attacks on the border so far “will not be all” that Hezbollah will do.
Nearly 60 Hezbollah fighters were killed in the exchange of fire.
Security sources and witnesses in Lebanon reported some of the heaviest Israeli strikes to date.
Two thick columns of smoke were seen rising over a hill near the Lebanese town of Khiyam in footage shared with Reuters by Khiyam resident Soheil Salami, who said the area had been hit by an Israeli airstrike.
“Today’s shelling has increased a lot – shelling by the resistance and counter shelling by the Israelis,” said Fouad Khreis, also speaking to Reuters from Khiyam. “Four shells fell on the outskirts of Khiyam, with no injuries,” he said.
The Israeli military said that among the targets hit were “terrorist infrastructure, missile depots and compounds used” by Hezbollah.
Israel has said it has no interest in a conflict on its northern border. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month warned Hezbollah against opening a second war front, saying it would bring Israeli counterstrikes of “unimaginable” magnitude that would cause “devastation” to Lebanon, Reuters reports.
