Hezbollah strikes Israeli town following deadly airstrike in Lebanon

By Naim Berjawi

BEIRUT (AA) - The Lebanese Hezbollah group announced late Tuesday that it targeted the northern Israeli town of Margaliot with dozens of rockets in response to the killing of a woman and her niece in an Israeli airstrike on town of Hanin in southern Lebanon.

Six others were also injured in the attack, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

The group said in a statement that its fighters targeted the town "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on southern villages and civilian homes, particularly the horrific massacre in the town of Hanin, which resulted in the deaths and injuries of civilians."

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported power outages in Margaliot and Kiryat Shmona due to rockets launched from Lebanon.

Tensions have escalated along Lebanon’s border with Israel since last October, when the Israeli army launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 34,200 people following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in intermittent exchanges of fire in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul