BEIRUT

The Israeli army targeted Lebanese Civil Defense vehicles extinguishing fires caused by earlier strikes in southern Lebanon, local media reported on Thursday. 

Lebanon’s official news agency reported that two Civil Defense ambulances were damaged by Israeli shells in Wadi Hamoul, without causing any casualties.

The report clarified that the Civil Defense teams were trying to extinguish fires caused by Israeli shelling.

In a related development, the agency reported that Israeli forces targeted the town of Chihine in the western sector of the border with two guided missiles.

Fears of a full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah have grown amid an exchange of cross-border attacks, especially after the July 30 assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr in Beirut.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza which has killed over 40,200 people since last October following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio