By Anadolu staff
ISTANBUL (AA) — Lebanese group Hezbollah announced Saturday that it had targeted groups of soldiers in northern Israel and military sites near the border between the two countries with rockets and artillery.
Hezbollah said in a series of statements on Telegram that it fired rocket barrages at 15 gatherings of Israeli soldiers in settlements of Shlomi, Malakiya, Avivim, Abirim, Ayta Ash-Shaab, Beit Hillel, al-Marj, Zar’it, al-Bassa, and Kfar Kila
The group further said that it targeted military bases in Nasher area, east of Haifa, settlements in the Karyot region, and the cities of Safed, Rosh Pinna, and Kiryat Shmona.
It said it also struck a Merkava tank in the settlement of Zar’it, which caught fire, resulting in casualties among its crew.
On the Israeli side, the army reported a drone attack from Lebanon targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, though he and his family were not present at the time of the strike.
No group in Lebanon has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Israeli army also said it detected at least 55 rockets fired from Lebanon in two barrages.
Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, displacing more than 1.34 million people.
The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed over 42,500 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala