BEIRUT: Hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on Lebanon’s southern front escalated on Monday, with two Israeli soldiers killed and several Lebanese civilians injured.
The Israeli army on Monday morning raided what it described as a Hezbollah military compound in Sefri, Baalbek. Three civilians were wounded in the attack, which destroyed a factory, rubble from which covered the neighboring Riyaq–Baalbek road.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it targeted the “headquarters of the Golan Division (210th) at the Nafah base with dozens of Katyusha rockets in response to the Israeli attacks in Bekaa.”
It said it also carried out a drone attack that “targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers south of Metula … (which) hit the Israeli soldiers’ settlement points in addition to destroying and damaging their vehicles and killing and injuring them.”
Israeli media outlets later confirmed that two soldiers had been killed in Metula.
“Targeting Metula is the most serious event since the beginning of the war in northern Israel as two soldiers were killed and two others were injured, with one sustaining serious injury, after a kamikaze drone hit Metula. The victims were soldiers in the 98th Paratroopers Division,” one report said.
Israeli fighter jets conducted eight airstrikes at a low altitude, focusing on the mountains and valleys of Iqlim Al-Tuffah and Jabal Al-Rayhan.
The attacks were concentrated near Al-Tasa Spring, Aqamata farm, the towns of Louaize and Aramti, and areas near Sarda.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said warplanes targeted “15 military buildings and infrastructure that were placed inside a camp belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Force in the Louaizeh area in southern Lebanon.”
The army also bombed what Adraee described as “military buildings in the towns of Ramia, Aita Al-Shaab and Marwahin and military infrastructure in Jabal Balat.”
The Israeli military said it used artillery to target “the origin of the gunfire in the Shebaa area to eliminate a possible danger.”
The action was taken after observing two rockets being fired from Syrian land toward the town of Ramot Magshimim in the Golan Heights, it said.
“The rockets landed in uninhabited areas and did not cause any injuries,” it said.
Israeli F15 fighter jets also flew at a low altitude over the Marjayoun Plain and Al-Khiam and conducted an attack on Sajjad Heights and Malikh Heights.
Israeli forces also shelled the towns of Kafr Kila and Al-Adisa from Metula as warplanes flew overhead.
