Hamas, Jamaa Islamiya fire rockets from Lebanon as Hezbollah-Israel clashes continue

The Lebanon branch of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades on Sunday announced firing 16 rockets from Lebanon at Nahariya in northern Israel in response to “the occupation’s crimes against our people in Gaza.”

The military wing of Lebanon’s Jamaa Islamiya, which calls itself al-Fajer Forces, meanwhile claimed responsibility for another rocket attack on Israel’s Kiryat Shmona, saying the projectiles targeted the Israeli army’s posts around and inside the Israeli settlement.

“Our rocket salvos will continue and increase whenever the Zionist enemy insists and goes far in its aggression against our people in south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. We also stress that we are capable of expanding our responses to deter it from its aggression,” Jamaa Islamiya’s military wing warned.

Both Hamas and Jamaa Islamiya are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood global network.

Media reports said a building in Kiryat Shmona was directly hit with a rocket, with online footage showing the building in flames. According to some reports, the building was being used by Israeli troops, knowing that Kiryat Shmona had been recently evacuated of its residents by Israel's authorities.

Hezbollah meanwhile announced shooting down an Israeli drone with a surface-to-air missile. The drone was flying over an area east of Lebanon’s Khiyam and was seen crashing inside Israel, Hezbollah added.

In other statements, Hezbollah said it attacked three Israeli military posts on the border with guided missiles and the “appropriate weapons.”

Israel retaliated by bombarding several Lebanese border areas with artillery shells, drones and warplanes.

Three drone strikes were also reported on three houses in Mays al-Jabal, Maroun al-Ras and Adaisseh while a drone strike on a motorcycle in Mays al-Jabal wounded two people.

The Israeli army confirmed carrying out three airstrikes against a cell and two individual militants.