UPDATE - Hezbollah targets military base in northern Israel

UPDATES WITH ISRAELI ARMY STATEMENT

By Wassim Seifeddine

BEIRUT (AA) - Hezbollah on Friday said it targeted an Israeli air defense base in the Birya barracks, northern Israel.

In a statement, the Lebanese group said its fighters launched multiple Katyusha rockets at the main air defense base under the command of Israel's northern region, hitting the Birya barracks directly and setting parts of it on fire.

Separately, Israel announced on Friday that 20 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward the city of Safed in the north during the night hours, while firefighting teams were working to extinguish a blaze in the Birya area following a rocket strike.

In a statement, the Israeli army said "most of the rockets were successfully intercepted, while the remaining ones landed in open areas without causing injuries."

Lebanon's National News Agency said Israeli warplanes conducted two airstrikes at dawn on the southern city of Bint Jbeil. The first strike hit a house while the second targeted a valley area.

Ambulance and civil defense teams immediately rushed to the scene, but no casualties were immediately reported.

Tensions have spiked along Lebanon's border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces as Tel Aviv presses ahead with an offensive against the Gaza Strip which has killed more than 41,100 people since last October following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi.