UPDATE 2 - Israeli airstrike levels building in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah retaliates with rocket fire

ADDS ISRAELI ARMY STATEMENT, BACKGROUND

By Anadolu staff

An Israeli airstrike early Saturday morning destroyed a three-story building at the western entrance of Kaouthariyet El Saiyad, a town in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh region, Lebanon’s official news agency reported.

The airstrike caused significant structural damage, blocking the road between Kaouthariyet El Saiyad and the nearby town of Ghassaniyeh. Authorities have not yet released information on casualties or assessed the full extent of the destruction.

Israeli warplanes also launched airstrikes in several regions, including a storage facility in Sarin Al-Tahta in the Baalbek district and targets in southern towns such as Srifa and Batoulieh. The outskirts of Housh in Tyre district and Zefta in Nabatieh also reportedly came under heavy bombardment, adding to the escalating destruction across Lebanon.

In retaliation, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a retaliatory strike on northern Israel. In a statement, the group said its fighters launched a rocket attack on Israel's Base 7200, located near the city of Haifa, at around 6.00 am local time (0300GMT) on Saturday. The Israeli army has not yet issued a response to Hezbollah’s announcement.

Separately, the Israeli army said in a statement that it successfully intercepted rockets fired from Lebanon targeting the Upper and Middle Galilee regions in northern Israel. No further details were provided.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,411 people, injuring over 3,970 others, and 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 nearly 42,200 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 a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara