UPDATE - Hezbollah says it destroyed 3 Israeli Merkava tanks in southern Lebanon

UPDATES WITH MORE ATTACKS, STATEMENT FROM ISRAELI ARMY

By Anadolu staff

BEIRUT (AA) - Hezbollah said Wednesday that it destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks near a southern Lebanon town and wounded Israeli soldiers in other attacks on several settlements in northern Israel.

In separate statements, the group said that its guided missiles destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks advancing toward the town of Maroun El Ras in southern Lebanon.

The group stated that it attacked a gathering of Israeli soldiers between the settlements of Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi with missiles, “directly hitting” the target.

They also reported launching a barrage of rockets at another assembly of soldiers in the settlement of Abirim.

Hezbollah also claimed to have killed and wounded Israeli soldiers by striking their gathering with a precision missile between the town of Odaisseh and the border settlement of Misgav Am.

It also said that it killed and wounded Israeli soldiers by detonating a bomb on troops attempting to infiltrate the town of Yaroun in southern Lebanon.

The movement also reported launching a ground-to-air missile targeting an Israeli helicopter over the settlement of Beit Hillel, adjacent to the Lebanese border, prompting the helicopter to leave the area immediately.

The group further stated that “since then, no helicopters have appeared in the airspace along the Lebanese border with occupied Palestine.”

Additionally, Hezbollah said that its fighters are engaged in ongoing clashes using rocket artillery and machine guns against an Israeli force that infiltrated east of the town of Maroun El Ras in southern Lebanon.

These attacks come as the Israeli army attempts to conduct a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, where it has faced fierce resistance from Hezbollah.

Ambushes during the clashes have resulted in the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers, including officers, and left at least 30 others injured, according to the Israeli army and local media reports.

Later, Hezbollah said it targeted two groups of Israeli soldiers with large barrages of rockets in the orchards of Metula and the Israeli settlement of Yiron.

Further, the group said that using rocket artillery, it targeted Israeli soldiers while they were moving within the settlement of Shtula.

For its part, the Israeli army said that 100 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Western Galilee in less than 2 hours and landed in open areas.

Israel has launched massive airstrikes since Sept. 23 against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon that have killed more than 1,000 victims and injured over 2,950, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The top leadership of Hezbollah was killed in the Israeli assaults, including leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,700 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, last October.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.


*Writing by Mohammad Sio