Lebanon’s Hezbollah trades cross-border fire with Israel amid escalating tensions

By Wassim Seif El Din

BEIRUT (AA) – Lebanese group Hezbollah exchanged cross-border fire with Israeli forces on Wednesday amid a growing escalation between the two sides.

In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters targeted the Avivim settlement in northern Israel with “appropriate weapons in response to Israeli attacks on civilian homes in southern Lebanon.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said three civilians were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a three-story house in the town of Dibbine. Airstrikes and artillery shelling were also reported in the towns of Kafra, Yater and Al-Fardeis.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of weapons fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 300 people are estimated to have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the clashes first erupted last October. Nearly 20 Israelis have also been killed, according to Israeli figures.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar