Hezbollah launches rocket barrage at Israeli positions in retaliation to Brital strikes
Hezbollah said it launched on Thursday "more than 60" rockets at Israeli military positions in retaliation for overnight air strikes.
Hezbollah fighters "launched a missile attack with more than 60 Katyusha rockets" on several Israeli military positions including in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the group said in a statement.
The strikes were "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks last night on the Bekaa region" in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek area, the group added.
Israeli warplanes meanwhile raided Wadi Slouki at the outskirts of the southern border town of Houla, al-Rihan, Sujod, and Aita al-Shaab, while Israeli artillery shelled Rachaya al-Foukhar and al-Khiam including with white phosphorus bombs. Shells also hit the Marjayoun plain, al-Owaidah hills and Yarin, injuring two herders in Marjayoun.
The Israeli army later said it had identified "approximately 40 launches" from Lebanon "towards the Golan Heights", causing "no injuries".
It added that Israeli forces struck the sources of the fire.
The army reported several more attacks from Lebanon on northern Israel, to which it said it had also responded with strikes. Hezbollah said it targeted the Zar'it barracks, surveillance equipment in the Jal al-Alam, Mount Adir, and Ramia posts, and a group of soldiers in Metula.
Earlier Thursday, Lebanese state-run media reported an overnight Israeli air raid on the Baalbek area, where Hezbollah holds sway, hours after the group launched an attack deep into Israeli territory.
"The outskirts of the eastern Lebanon mountain range, at midnight (2100 GMT Wednesday), was subjected to five enemy raids," Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said.
The Israeli strikes "slightly injured a citizen" and caused fires, the NNA added.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that one of the strikes "hit a Hezbollah military camp".
An Israeli army spokesman told AFP: "I can confirm that an airstrike was indeed conducted deep in Lebanon against a terror target related to Hezbollah's precision missile project".
The area of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley is a Hezbollah bastion, bordering Syria.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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