Hezbollah fires 50 rockets at northern Israel following deadly strikes on Lebanon

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired at least 50 rockets at northern Israel Wednesday morning after Israeli warplanes struck several areas overnight and in the morning in Lebanon, killing at least three people, according to Israeli and Lebanese sources.

Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), wrote on the social media platform X that Hezbollah used rockets to target the center of Katzrin, a city in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. 

"Hezbollah is firing indiscriminately at Israeli civilians. Like any country that protects its citizens, we will act accordingly," Hagari warned.

Citing anonymous Israeli security officials, Israel's Ynet news site reported that the attack was the first time Hezbollah had deliberately targeted civilian areas instead of military bases.

The IDF said in a statement that the aerial defense array intercepted some of the rockets and that "a number of fallen projectiles were identified in the area of Katzrin." 

Video footage on social media showed several residential homes on fire, with black smoke rising above them.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service reported that a man in his 30s was injured by shrapnel and taken to a hospital in moderate condition.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rockets, saying the attack was in response to Israeli strikes in the Beqaa area of Lebanon.

Earlier in the morning, at least three people were killed in an Israeli attack on the city of Sidon in Lebanon, according to Israel's state-owned Kan TV news.

In a statement released by the IDF, warplanes reportedly struck Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the Beqaa area. "Following the strikes, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of large amounts of weapons in the facilities that were struck," the statement read.

The strikes also targeted "a compound that was used by Hezbollah's aerial defense system and posed a threat to Israel Air Force aircraft," it said.