Israel fires four shells at south Lebanon at dawn

Israeli forces shelled the southern Lebanese border towns of Blida and Mays al-Jabal at dawn Tuesday, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

The agency said the Israeli army fired four artillery shells after suspecting the presence of a cross-border infiltration attempt.

The bombardment came after a day of deadly cross-border exchanges between Israel, the Islamic Jihad Palestinian movement and Hezbollah. Those clashes continued until late Monday.

The flare-up started after four Islamic Jihad militants killed three Israeli soldiers and wounded several others in an infiltration attack. The four militants were killed in the clash. Israel later shelled southern border areas as well as three Hezbollah posts, killing three Hezbollah members and eventually drawing retaliatory shelling by the Lebanese group against two barracks in northern Israel.

Hezbollah described its attack as an “initial response” as media reports said the group intends to stage another retaliatory attack.