Israeli jets strike south Lebanon after Hezbollah attack

Hezbollah says it fired on an Israeli team installing ‘eavesdropping and spying devices’ near the border.     

Israel says its fighter jets have pounded Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after an incoming antitank missile wounded Israelis near the border.

The Israeli army on Sunday said “a number of civilians were wounded” in the antitank missile strike near the village of Dovev, just 800 metres (0.5 miles) from the frontier with Lebanon.

The Israel Electric Corporation said the missile from Lebanon “hit employees” who were in Dovev to repair power lines downed by earlier strikes.

Iran-backed Hezbollah group claimed responsibility and said it had fired on an Israeli team installing “eavesdropping and spying devices” near the border.

Since the October 7 Hamas attack followed by Israel’s offensive on Gaza, Israel has also traded fire with armed groups in southern Lebanon on a near-daily basis.

Israel has killed more than 11,000 people – 74 percent of them women and children – as the Gaza assault forces the displacement of 1.7 million people over the past five weeks.

In addition to Hezbollah, Hamas’s Lebanese branch has also launched attacks into southern Israel in recent weeks.

The Israeli army said 15 rockets were fired towards northern Israel from Lebanon on Sunday, with four intercepted by a missile defence system.

The Lebanese branch of Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attacks targeting the Israeli cities of Haifa, Nahariya and Shlomi in response to “massacres and aggression” in Gaza. Israeli medics said at least 10 people were injured.

Cross-border attacks from Lebanon have killed at least six Israeli soldiers and two civilians, according to the army and paramedics.

Israeli leaders have warned Hezbollah against launching a full-scale attack on Israel, saying it could suffer a similar fate to besieged Gaza if it enters the war.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006.