UPDATE - Israel, Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchange cross-border attacks amid tension

UPDATES WITH HEZBOLLAH DRONE ATTACK

By Ikrame Imane Kouachi

JERUSALEM (AA) — Israeli forces and Lebanese group Hezbollah exchanged cross-border attacks on Sunday amid growing tensions between the two sides.

The Israeli army said a soldier was lightly injured by Hezbollah rocket fire in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel.

A military statement said several projectiles were fired by the Lebanese group at the Margaliot and Al-Malikiyah areas, with the army responding to the source of fire by staging airstrikes in the towns of Khiam and Rab El Thalathine in southern Lebanon.

Israeli artillery also shelled the town of Houla to “remove threats,” it said.

There were no reports yet of casualties or damage.

Hezbollah confirmed that its fighters had struck with missiles the Al-Malikiyah site in northern Israel, resulting in direct hits.

The Lebanese group also carried out a drone attack on the Brakhta artillery post and a deployment of Israeli soldiers in the occupied Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 32,800 people following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

More than 300 people are estimated to have been killed in Lebanon, including at least 246 Hezbollah fighters, since the clashes erupted last October. Nearly 20 Israelis have been killed, according to Israeli figures.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi and Rania Abu Shamala