Israel says 80 rockets fired from Lebanon amid escalating tensions with Hezbollah

JERUSALEM

Israel said Thursday that it detected nearly 80 rockets fired from Lebanon towards its northern regions, causing fires and damage, according to local media.

Channel 12 reported that Hezbollah fired over 80 rockets at settlements in the Upper Galilee shortly after the recent airstrike that targeted the capital Beirut.

On Thursday, two people were killed and 15 others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the southern suburb of Beirut, marking the third such attack in a week.

The Israeli military claimed that the strike resulted in the death of Muhammad Hussein Sarour, the head of Hezbollah's aerial force unit.

Additionally, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the military detected approximately 45 rockets fired from Lebanon toward the city of Safed, which houses the Israeli military's northern command, as well as several settlements in Upper Galilee.

One of the rockets struck a home in the settlement of Rosh Pinna near Safed, causing a fire and property damage, but no injuries were reported, according to the daily.

Separately, Hezbollah said that it launched 50 rockets at the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Ata, located near Haifa in northern Israel.

Israel has pounded Lebanon since Monday morning, killing at least 677 people and injuring over 2,500 others, according to figures released by the Health Ministry.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,500 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last October.

The international community has warned against the strikes on Lebanon, as they raise the specter of spreading the Gaza conflict regionally.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio