ANKARA 

The Israeli army on Saturday conducted a series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon and the Bekaa region, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

Air raid sirens have also been activated in Kiryat Shmona and several settlements in the Upper Galilee, the Israeli Army Radio said, adding that 25 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel, causing several fires but no casualties.

The sirens also echoed in Safed and the Galilee Panhandle region, signaling an increase in hostilities.

The Israeli Channel 12 reported that the army launched attacks in the Litani River area deep inside Lebanon, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the border.

It added that 45 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward several settlements in northern Israel in less than an hour.

A rocket fired from Lebanon reportedly struck the Birya area in Upper Galilee, prompting the Israeli army to close off roads and routes in the northern Golan Heights.


Separately, the Lebanese group Hezbollah said that it fired rockets targeting several Israeli military sites.

“We targeted the 631st Reconnaissance Battalion center, part of the Golani Brigade, at the Ramot Naftali base with Katyusha rockets,” it said.

Hezbollah said it also targeted the "Jal Al-Alam site with artillery shells, hitting it directly."

In a third attack, the group targeted "the main air defense base of the Northern Command at the Birya base with a barrage of Katyusha rockets."

In another attack, the Lebanese group targeted "the Zar'it base with rocket weapons, hitting it directly."

The daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israeli fighter jets carried out more than 100 raids in the latest attack on southern Lebanon.


Meanwhile, the Israeli army announced on X: "We are currently targeting Hezbollah positions in Lebanon."

According to Lebanon’s state-run media, the “Israeli enemy conducted dozens of air raids around the towns of Sarira, Qatraneh, Shbail, Mahmoudiya, and Mount Rayhan in the Jezzine district."

Israeli jets also targeted the Ain al-Zarqa area near Tyre and struck the outskirts of Marwahin in the Bint Jbeil district.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified in recent days amid an escalation in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s deadly war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 41,400 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

• Writing by Ikram Kouachi