Hezbollah targets Israeli troops on Lebanese border, sirens sound in northern Israel

Israeli ground operations in Lebanon continue as the Middle East remains on edge awaiting Israel’s response to a missile attack from Iran

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Israeli soldiers operate at a location given as southern Lebanon in this image released on October 6. Photo: Israel Defence Forces via Reuters

Published: 3:53pm, 9 Oct 2024Updated: 5:03pm, 9 Oct 2024

Hezbollah militants targeted Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border village of Labbouneh with artillery shells and rockets on Wednesday, the group said, a day after Israel said it had killed two successors to Hezbollah’s slain leader.

The Iran-backed group, which has been launching rockets against Israel for a year in parallel with the Gaza war and is now fighting it in ground clashes, said it had pushed the troops back.

The escalation in Lebanon and the ongoing one-year-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has raised fears of a wider Middle East conflict that could suck in Iran and Israel’s superpower ally the United States.

The Israeli military said three of its troops were severely injured on Tuesday and Wednesday during combat in southern Lebanon. Sirens sounded in northern Israel on Wednesday morning after Israel renewed bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, overnight.

Israeli soldiers raise an Israeli flag in Lebanon’s southern border village of Maroun al-Ras. Photo: USG via AFP

The conflict in Lebanon has escalated dramatically in recent weeks as Israel has carried out a string of assassinations of top Hezbollah leaders and launched ground operations into southern Lebanon that expanded further this week.