Hezbollah retaliates to Bekaa, Deir Qanoun strikes

Hezbollah launched Tuesday several rocket salvos at a command center in north Israel, in response to an Israeli strike that targeted a car in Deir Qanoun in the Tyre district the previous day, killing a Hezbollah fighter.

Hezbollah said in a statement it targeted a command center in Ga'aton "in response to the assassination in Deir Qanoun."

Hezbollah had announced the death of one of its fighters "on the road to Jerusalem". The fighter was killed in the Deir Qanoun strike.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah targeted the Biranit barracks in northern Israel, and launched several rocket salvos at Israeli army positions in the annexed Golan Heights "in response" to Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon the previous day.

The strike Monday on the Bekaa wounded eleven Lebanese and Syrian civilians, while another strike on al-Mansouri late on Monday injured two Palestinian women.

Israel’s military said that a barrage of 55 rockets from Lebanon has ignited fires in northern Israel. It said only some of the projectiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems, while others fell in open areas. Firefighters were working to contain the blazes.

On Tuesday, Israeli warplanes raided the southern town of Aita al-Shaab while artillery shelled al-Khiam, wounding a Syrian worker, and the outskirts of Tallousa, Kfarshouba, al-Naqoura and Hamoul.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah "rocket launcher" in Beit Leef and a building used by Hezbollah in Aita al-Shaab.

Later during the day, Hezbollah targeted the al-Marj post in northern Israel and surveillance equipment in the Jal al-Alam post.

Israeli warplanes had struck overnight the southern village of al-Taybeh, and earlier on Monday Israeli artillery shelled the southern towns of Houla, Markaba, Qabrikha, Tallousa and Wadi Slouqi. Three civilians were hospitalized due to asphyxiation from inhaling white phosphorus in Qabrikha, the National News Agency said.

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since Oct. 8, causing widespread damage on both sides of the border and killing civilians and combatants on both sides.

Fears have increased in recent weeks of a larger escalation, with Hezbollah vowing retaliation for an Israeli strike last month in Beirut that killed one of its top commanders.

The violence has killed 586 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 128 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.