Hizbollah says launched series of retaliatory attacks on Israel

BEIRUT — Lebanese militant group Hizbollah said it launched a series of attacks on Israeli military positions on Saturday after state media reported Israel had stepped up its own strikes the night before.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, the Iran-backed Hizbollah has exchanged almost daily fire with the Israeli army in support of its Palestinian ally.

On Saturday morning, the Lebanese Islamist group said it had carried out "an air assault using explosive drones against... the Yiftah barracks, targeting the positions of enemy officers and soldiers".

It said the attack was in retaliation for a drone strike on a motorcycle in Majdal Selm earlier in the day.

The Hizbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said two people were wounded in the drone strike.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “two Hizbollah terrorists operating in the region of Majdal Selm were struck by an aircraft”.

Later on Saturday, the Lebanese Shiite movement said it had “shot down a Hermes 900 drone which was attacking our people and villages”.

Hizbollah, which has increased its use of drones in recent weeks, has also claimed responsibility for several attacks against Israeli military positions “in response to Israeli aggression against southern localities and civilian homes”.

“The enemy [Israel] intensified its attacks last night,” Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

They included “a series of drone strikes... which resulted in deaths, injuries and extensive damage” in multiple locations near the border, NNA said.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that its fighter jets had struck “significant Hizbollah assets” in several areas of southern Lebanon, including Adloun, 30 kilometres from the border, in response to launches aimed at northern Israel.

On Friday evening, a woman was killed and multiple people wounded in an Israeli drone strike on the outskirts of Adloun that “completely destroyed” a house, NNA reported.

The nearly eight months of violence have left almost 450 people dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including at least 80 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Among them are 20 rescuers, including 10 members of the Islamic Health Committee.

On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the violence, according to Israeli authorities.