The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck around 10 Hezbollah targets in seven different areas of southern Lebanon.
The IDF also said it “eliminated” a member of the group in the southern village of Bayt Lif. The military struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility, infrastructure sites, military structures and a launcher in southern Lebanon, the IDF said.
Border confrontations between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been occurring almost daily since the Hamas October 7 attacks on southern Israel prompted the ongoing war in Gaza.
Recently, however, fears have grown regarding an escalation of the conflict. This weekend, 12 teenagers and children were killed in a strike on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel blamed on Hezbollah. The group denied responsibility, but Israel has vowed a “harsh” response.
Some 1,200 were killed in Israel during the Hamas October 7 attacks, with the militant group taking around 250 hostages back to Gaza. Around 115 hostages are still there, though Israel says a third of them are believed to be dead.
Meanwhile, over 39,300 Palestinians have been killed so far in the fighting, health authorities in the Hamas-run strip say.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are designated as terrorist groups by several countries.
U.S. Defense Sec says Hezbollah-Israel conflict not inevitable
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe that a confrontation between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was inevitable, though he was still concerned.
Speaking during a joint press conference in Manila, the Philippines, following security talks with Philippine counterparts alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Austin said he wished to see things “resolved in a diplomatic fashion.”
“While we’ve seen a lot of activity on Israel’s northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight. And I don’t believe that a fight is inevitable,” Austin said.
