Hezbollah, Israel Exchange Fire As Escalation Fears Grow

The Lebanese group Hezbollah says it has launched drone attacks on Israeli bases north of the city of Acre in retaliation for the killing of one of its fighters, marking the deepest attack into Israeli territory since the Gaza war began.

Hezbollah launched “a combined air attack using decoy and explosive drones that targeted” two Israeli bases halfway between Acre and Nahariyya, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Iran-backed group said it acted in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack killing one of its fighters. It published what appeared to be a satellite photo, with the location of the attack symbolised by a flash with a red circle around it.

The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of any of its facilities being hit by Hezbollah, but had said earlier that it intercepted two “aerial targets” off Israel’s northern coast.

Later on Tuesday, Lebanon’s official news agency NNA said at least two people were killed and six others injured after an Israeli air raid hit a residential area in the southern Lebanese town of Hanin.

Hezbollah said it launched dozens of rockets at northern Israel late on Tuesday in response to the killing of two civilians.

Hezbollah fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at northern Israel “as part of the response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on… civilian homes, specifically the horrific massacre in Hanin and the killing and injuring of civilians,” the group said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military said its air raids killed two Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah later confirmed the death of one of its fighters, Hussein Azkoul, but provided no further details.

A separate Israeli attack overnight killed Muhammad Attiya, a fighter in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces, the military said. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah on the claim.