Hezbollah says fires drones and guided missiles at Israel
by AFP Staff Writers
Beirut (AFP) April 27, 2024

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said Saturday it had targeted northern Israel with drones and guided missiles after cross-border Israeli strikes killed three people, including two of its members.

A statement from the group said it "launched a complex attack using explosive drones and guided missiles on the headquarters of the Al Manara military command and a gathering of forces from the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade".

The Israeli army said its Iron Dome air-defence system "successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into the area of Manara in northern Israel".

The army also "struck the sources of fire" of several anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon into the Manara border area, it added.

Lebanon's National News Agency later reported that an Israeli air strike on a house in Srebbine village had wounded 11 people, one seriously.

Earlier Saturday, Israeli fighter jets "struck a Hezbollah military structure in the area of Qouzah in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement.

The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen near-daily exchanges of fire since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began nearly seven months ago.

In two separate statements earlier Saturday, Hezbollah mourned the deaths of two fighters from the villages of Kfar Kila and Khiam.

It said they had been "martyred on the road to Jerusalem", the phrase it uses to refer to members killed by Israeli fire.

Overnight Saturday to Sunday Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of rockets at the Israeli military base at Meron, northern Israel.

The group said it was in reprisal for Israeli attacks on civilian homes at several places in southern Lebanon, including Kfar Kila and Srebbine.

An Israeli army statement said its Iron Dome system had succeeded in intercepting missiles fired towards northern Israel from Lebanon's al-Manara region.

It added that it had fired at "military infrastructure" in the village of Srebbine.

Hezbollah has intensified its targeting of military sites in Israel since tensions soared between Israel and Iran over the bombing of Tehran's Damascus consulate on April 1, widely blamed on Israel.

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