Sirens sounded in Israeli towns as Hezbollah, Israeli army trade mortar shells

By Abdel Ra'ouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Sirens sounded in a number of Israeli towns near the Lebanese border on Sunday as the Hezbollah group and the Israeli army traded mortar shells on each other's positions, with no reports of casualties on either side.

The Israeli army said in a statement that it had detected the firing of 10 shells from Lebanon towards the town of Shlomi, near the northern border.

“About ten mortar shell attacks were detected towards the Shlomi region, which fell in an open area,” the army said on social media platform X.

"An aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory was intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array," the army said, adding that it had responded to the shelling from Lebanon.

Sirens sounded in a number of Israeli towns near the Lebanese border, according to the Israeli army radio.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Channel 12 reported that “there were no casualties and no damage.”

In another attack, the army said Israeli warplanes attacked the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group inside Lebanese territory, without providing further details.

The army radio said that "sirens sounded in the Upper Galilee region near the Lebanese border."

Tensions have risen along the Israel-Lebanon border amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

The escalation comes as Israel widened its air and ground operations in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Israeli border towns.

* Writing Ikram Kouachi