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4 Israeli soldiers wounded in Hezbollah attack on Yiftah

Two suicide drones launched from Lebanon struck Monday an area near Beit Hillel in northern Israel, Israeli media said.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack and said it has carried out an aerial attack with "a swarm of suicide drones" targeting tents and "sleeping quarters" for an Israeli artillery battalion in a newly created post in Beit Hillel.

The Israeli army said the attack caused no casualties.

Hezbollah later targeted a Merkava tank in the Yiftah barracks, wounding four soldiers.

Hezbollah fighters fired "a guided missile" at an Israeli Merkava tank across the border on Monday morning, destroying it "after closely monitoring the enemy's movements," the group said in a statement.

The Israeli army said "two anti-tank missiles" crossed from Lebanon into the area of Yiftah, less than two kilometers from the border.

The missiles wounded four Israeli soldiers, the army said, one of them moderately and the rest lightly and all were taken to hospital.

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire following the Palestinian group's October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked war in Gaza.

Hezbollah has since attacked Israel many times with explosive-laden drones.

Hezbollah also targeted Monday a post in the occupied Kfarshouba Hills and groups of soldiers in Berkat Risha, the Biranit barracks, and the al-Jerdah post.

Senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said Monday that Hezbollah's drones can reach beyond Akka and Haifa in northern Israel.

"The resistance has proven that it is up to the challenge and has succeeded in breaking Israeli equations and rules in front of the world," Qaouq said.

He added that Israelis can not return to the north before the war on Gaza stops.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border in the seven months of cross-border violence.

At least 410 people have been killed in Lebanon in months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also including 79 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 14 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Source: Naharnet


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