Lebanese military sources say three fighters from the Hezbollah resistance movement have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, amid escalating tensions along the border between the Arab nation and the 1948 occupied territories.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an Israeli drone launched four air-to-surface missiles at a two-story building in the village of Houla, killing three Hezbollah members.
The aerial attack also caused severe damage to neighboring homes.
The sources added that the Israeli military carried out five airstrikes on the villages of Taybeh, Rab El Thalathine and Houla, and struck eight towns and villages in the eastern and central regions with approximately 40 artillery shells.
For its part, Hezbollah announced that it had attacked several Israeli military positions, namely the Misgav Am base in the Upper Galilee region, the outpost at the Metulla settlement, and the Ruwaisat al-Alam site in Kafr Shuba Hills.
Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging deadly fire since early October last year, shortly after the regime launched a genocidal aggression against the Gaza Strip following a surprise operation by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group.
Hezbollah has vowed to keep up its retaliatory attacks as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its Gaza war, which has so far killed at least 37,877 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 86,969 others.
Hezbollah officials have repeatedly said they do not want a war with Israel but if it happens they are ready.
Lebanon’s Grand Shia Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan says Hezbollah has a massive arsenal of missiles of different types, warning that the resistance movement would fire up to half a million missiles toward the Israeli-occupied territories in case of a new war on Lebanon.
“In case of an open war between Lebanon and Israel, the latter should expect the launch of some 500,000 missiles [from southern Lebanon into the occupied lands]. The destructive power of these missiles can send the occupying regime back to 70 years ago,” Qabalan noted.