Israel military launches series of air strikes in Lebanon

BEIRUT

The Israeli military said Wednesday its fighter jets "began a series of strikes in Lebanon", raising fears of a war between the two countries after months of cross-border fire.

The military gave no further details of the air strikes, while Lebanese media reported air raids on southern villages including Adchit, Sawwaneh and Shihabiyeh.

The strikes came hours after fire from Lebanon wounded multiple people in northern Israel, according to medics.

Seven people were wounded, five of them in the town of Safed, the Magen David Adom emergency service said.

There was no immediate claim for the rocket launches from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has traded near-daily fire with Israeli troops since the outbreak of the war in Gaza more than four months ago.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Tuesday fire from southern Lebanon will end "when the attack on Gaza stops and there is a ceasefire" between the group's Palestinian allies Hamas and arch foe Israel.

"If they (Israel) broaden the confrontation, we will do the same," Nasrallah warned in a televised address.

Fears have been growing of another full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, with tens of thousands displaced on both sides of the border and regional tensions soaring.

"I don't know when the war in the north is, I can tell you that the likelihood of it happening in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past," Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi said last month.

Since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war on Oct. 7, at least 243 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 30 civilians, according to an AFP tally.