UPDATE – Israel reports fresh rocket fire from Lebanon amid escalation with Hezbollah

UPDATE WITH DETAILS

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army reported the launch of dozens of rockets from Lebanon on Wednesday amid increasing escalation with Hezbollah.

A military statement said air-raid sirens sounded in Upper Galilee, Middle Galilee, and Western Galilee after about 30 launches were detected from Lebanon.

The army said some of the projectiles were intercepted, while others landed in open areas.

Haaretz newspaper said early Wednesday that around 60 rockets were fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel since morning.

Hezbollah, for its part, confirmed firing rockets towards several areas in northern Israel, including Safed, Yiftah settlement, and artillery positions in Dalton and Deshon.

The group said its fighters also targeted an Israeli tank with a guided missile in Ramiya town in southern Lebanon, inflicting casualties.

Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,500 people and displacing more than 1 million.

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 more than 42,400 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Israel expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar and Rania Abu Shamala