Hezbollah targets Tel Aviv suburbs and Haifa

Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel on Tuesday, setting off air raid sirens in the country’s most populated areas, a few hours before U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in the region on a mission to restart stalled Gaza ceasefire talks.

The Israeli military said five projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel and said most were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system.

The Israeli military said that at the same time, about 15 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The rocket fire came as Israel stepped up its strikes in Lebanon, targeting a Hezbollah-run financial institution, and as the U.S. pushed to resume cease-fire talks in Gaza following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli positions in the Tel Aviv suburbs including an intelligence base, and launched rockets at a naval base in Israel's Haifa.

The Israeli army said it had struck a Hezbollah naval base in south Beirut overnight.

- Border clashes -

Hezbollah said it hit an Israeli tank in south Lebanon on Tuesday, also saying it faced an Israeli infiltration attempt and clashed with troops in the area a day before.

Hezbollah fighters targeted "a Merkava tank as it advanced" near the south Lebanon border village of Taybeh, "causing it to catch fire," the group said in a statement, adding that fighters had clashed with Israeli troops on the village's outskirts on Monday.

A Hezbollah spokesman on Tuesday acknowledged that some of the group's fighters were captured by the Israeli army without giving numbers, adding that Israel "bears responsibility" for their lives.

"On the issue of captives currently held by the enemy, I say: I know that the enemy is not committed to the ethics of war and international conventions but it bears the responsibility of preserving the lives of the captives," spokesman Mohammed Afif told reporters, calling on the the International Committee of the Red Cross to ascertain their safety.

- Israel strikes south Lebanon -

Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Tuesday after Israel's military issued an evacuation call.

AFPTV footage captured smoke billowing after the Israeli military on X warned residents of Al-Hawsh, just south of Tyre, to evacuate, while Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that "enemy aircraft launched a series of strikes" that targeted the area.