BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said it launched on Thursday “more than 60” rockets at Israeli military positions in retaliation for overnight air strikes on the country’s eastern region, AFP reported.
The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified since October 7, when Israel launched a relentless bombardment campaign in Gaza killing at least 35,233 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Hezbollah fighters targeted several Israeli military positions in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights with Katyusha rockets, according to a statement by the group. This retaliation, Hezbollah stated, was in response to Israeli airstrikes on the Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon’s Baalbek area.
Lebanese state-run media reported an overnight Israeli air raid on the Baalbek area, where Hezbollah holds significant influence, following Hezbollah’s attack deep into Israeli territory.
According to Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA), the Israeli airstrikes caused fires and “slightly injured a citizen.” A source close to Hezbollah said that one of the strikes hit a Hezbollah military camp.
Baalbek, situated in the Bekaa Valley, is known as a Hezbollah stronghold and shares a border with Syria. Wednesday’s drone attack by Hezbollah near the Israeli city of Tiberias marked one of its deepest incursions into Israel since October.
The escalation in hostilities follows Israel’s killing of a Hezbollah field commander in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, identified by Hezbollah as Hussein Makki.
