Hezbollah says it attacked 9 Israeli military sites with rockets, drones

Hezbollah said it had launched rockets and weaponized drones at nine Israeli military sites in a coordinated attack on Thursday, escalating hostilities on Lebanon's southern border for the second consecutive day.

The attacks were in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Tuesday that killed a senior Hezbollah field commander. A security source said it was the largest attack by Hezbollah since October, when the group began exchanging fire with Israel in parallel with the Gaza war.

In the early hours of Friday, a strike on a building east of the port city of Tyre left one civilian woman dead and more than a dozen wounded, many of them children, according to two Lebanese security sources. Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it was investigating.

Hezbollah stated earlier that it had fired volleys of Katyusha and Falaq rockets at six Israeli military locations. Its Al-Manar television reported more than 100 rockets fired simultaneously.

Hezbollah's statement said it had also launched attack drones at the headquarters of Israel's northern command, an intelligence headquarters and a military barracks.

A security source told Reuters that this involved firing at least 30 attack drones simultaneously, marking it as the group's largest drone attack to date in the eight-month-old war.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been trading near-daily fire since the Gaza war erupted in October. However, the past two days have seen a sharp escalation following the Israeli strike that killed the Hezbollah commander.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah said it carried out at least eight attacks that day in retaliation.

Air raid sirens sounded across cities in northern Israel on Thursday, and Israeli officials reported about 40 rockets fired from Lebanon in the afternoon.

State broadcaster Kan aired footage of numerous mid-air interceptions of rockets above Israeli towns, including in Safed, approximately 12 km (7.5 miles) from the border.

Two people were wounded by shrapnel, Israel's national ambulance service reported.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 300 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon — surpassing the number lost in 2006, the last major war between the two sides, according to a Reuters tally. The tally reports around 80 civilian casualties. Attacks from Lebanon have killed 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, Israel says.

The exchanges of fire have also displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.

"Diplomatically or militarily, peace will be returned to our north. Israel will defend itself. There should not be any doubt about this whatsoever. This (situation) cannot be a sustained reality," Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said.

Leaders of the G7 meeting in Italy said in a draft communique that they were very concerned about the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border.