BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it attacked northern Israel on Tuesday including with “explosive-laden drones”, a day after an assault claimed by the Iran-backed movement killed two soldiers there.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged regular cross-border fire since Palestinian group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip.
In recent weeks Hezbollah has stepped up its attacks, which it says are in support of Gazans and its ally Hamas, and Israel’s military has struck deeper into Lebanese territory.
Hezbollah fighters on Tuesday launched “explosive-laden drones targeting enemy soldiers and officers”, the group said in a statement.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah launches deepest attack into Israel since Gaza war
At the same time, other drones “targeted one of the Iron Dome (air defence system) platforms”, the said, adding in separate statements that they carried out other attacks on northern Israel, including with guided missiles.
The Israeli army said in a statement that “two aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon into northern Israel, one of which was intercepted”.
“Light damage was caused and no injuries were reported,” it said, adding that “fighter jets struck Hezbollah military structures in several areas in southern Lebanon”.
Israel’s army said earlier Tuesday that two soldiers had been killed the day before in the country’s north.
On Monday, Hezbollah claimed a drone attack on troops near northern Israel’s Metula, with the Israeli military saying “a UAV (drone) was identified crossing from Lebanon” into the area.
In Lebanon, at least 390 people have been killed in nearly seven months of cross-border violence, mostly but also more than 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 13 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.
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