Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets Friday, a day after the militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, Associated Press reported.
Israel’s military said the rockets came in three waves on September 20 afternoon targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah said it had targeted several sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including multiple air defence bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armoured brigade they said they’d struck for the first time, the report added.
Hezbollah said the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on villages and homes in southern Lebanon.
Earlier today, Israel carried out extensive air strikes on southern Lebanon, saying its warplanes have hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other "terrorist sites" including a weapons storage facility.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the launchers were ready to be fired against Israel. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israel carried out at least 52 strikes in the south of the country on Thursday evening. Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it had also launched strikes on military sites in northern Israel.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to keep up daily strikes on Israel despite this week’s deadly sabotage of its members’ communication devices, which he described as a “severe blow.”
Two days of attacks widely blamed on Israel targeted thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies, and have heightened fears that nearly a year of near-daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel will escalate into all-out war. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attacks.
Nasrallah said deadly explosions earlier in the week "crossed all red lines", accusing Israel of what he said represented a declaration of war.
Israel has not said it was behind the attacks - which saw pagers and walkie-talkies explode simultaneously across the country - on Tuesday and Wednesday, and which Lebanese authorities said killed 37 people and wounded 3,000.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said Israel is embarking on a "new phase of the war", concentrating more of its efforts on the north.
(With inputs from agencies)