Beirut:

A local official in Lebanon and state media said an Israeli strike Sunday on a southern village killed several family members, with Hezbollah fighters announcing rocket fire in retaliation.

Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group have exchanged regular cross-border fire since Palestinian group Hamas’s unprecedented October attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza.

Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel striking deeper into Lebanese territory, while Hezbollah has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on military positions in northern Israel.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the strike in Mais al-Jabal killed “four people from a single family”, updating an earlier reported death count of three dead in the raid it said was carried out by Israeli aircraft.

It identified them as a man, a woman and their children aged 12 and 21, and said two other people were wounded.

A Lebanese security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed the strike killed “four civilians”.

Mais al-Jabal municipality chief Abdelmoneim Shukair had earlier told AFP that three people were killed, saying they were a couple and their son.

Hezbollah in a statement said it fired “dozens of Katyusha and Falaq rockets” at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel “in response to the horrific crime that the Israeli enemy committed in Mais al-Jabal”.

It later said it fired dozens more Katyusha rockets at Israeli troops and vehicles across the border “as part of the response” to the Mais al-Jabal strike.

The Israeli army told AFP that “about 40 rockets were identified crossing” from Lebanon, “some of which were intercepted”.

“At the moment, no casualties have been reported,” it added.

Hezbollah has repeatedly declared that only a ceasefire in Gaza will put an end to its attacks on Israel, which it says are in support of Gazans and its ally Hamas.

Both the United States and France have made diplomatic efforts to calm tensions on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

In Lebanon, at least 390 people have been killed in nearly seven months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also more than 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 11 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tel Aviv, Israel:

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it launched drone attacks on two north Israel bases Tuesday in retaliation for the killing of a fighter Israel described as “significant”.

Since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, there have been near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

But Hezbollah has stepped up its rocket attacks on Israeli positions in recent days, with the latest assault targeting beyond the border area that the group usually strikes.

Hezbollah launched “a combined air attack using decoy and explosive drones that targeted” two Israeli bases north of Acre, the group announced in a statement, while Israel said they did not hit their targets.

The Lebanese group added the attack was “in response” to an Israeli drone strike that killed one of its members in south Lebanon earlier in the day.

Israel’s army said it had “successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast”.

On Tuesday morning, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP an Israeli drone strike deep into Lebanon killed an engineer working for the group’s air defence forces as he was travelling in a vehicle.

The strike hit the Abu al-Aswad area near the coastal city of Tyre, some 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the border, an AFP journalist reported.

The fighter’s vehicle was completely burnt out.

Hezbollah said one of its fighters had been killed by Israeli fire, adding he was a resident of the area where the vehicle was struck. 

The group also said another fighter had been killed by Israel in a statement overnight.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli army had said it killed “two significant terrorists in Hezbollah’s aerial unit” on Tuesday morning and overnight.

The fighter killed Tuesday was “heavily involved in the planning and execution of terrorist attacks against Israel,” it added.

On Sunday evening, Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone, both sides said.

Since October 7, at least 378 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 11 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)