Israeli warplanes staged a series of airstrikes on Thursday on pro-Iranian Hezbollah strongholds in a cluster of Lebanese villages, causing material damage and injuries.

This followed Hezbollah’s claims that they hit Israeli soldiers in the Jal al-Alam and Israeli outposts in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

The Israeli retaliation targeted the outskirts of Beit Leef and Ramia.

Earlier in the day, Israeli artillery hit the outskirts of al-Naqoura after a tense night of airstrikes and bombardments on several southern border towns, including Sidqine.

Also, Houla, Mais al-Jabal, Markaba and the outskirts of al-Taybeh were all hit.

According to Lebanese security sources, 14 people were injured in Israeli strikes on Sidqine overnight.

The Israeli army said their warplanes struck a number of Hezbollah “terror targets’’ in the area of Jabal Blat, including launch posts and a military site in which terrorists operated.

The army added that on Thursday, a number of launches were identified crossing from Lebanon toward Adamit and Shlomi in northern Israel.

The continued cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel have stoked fears of all-out war on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

Since the Gaza war broke out on October 7, after Hamas killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took some 240 people hostage.

Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah has intensified along the Israeli-Lebanese border, with casualties on both sides.

(dpa/NAN)