JERUSALEM

At least 150 rockets were fired on Friday from Lebanon at military sites and settlements in northern Israel within one hour, according to the Israeli Army Radio.

It reported that “about 130 rockets were fired at Galilee and the Golan Heights in two separate waves.”

The Army Radio later added that approximately 20 more rockets were launched toward the Meron area in the north, with most landing in open areas.

This marked a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel, with intense cross-border exchanges seen throughout the region.

In response, Israeli artillery began shelling multiple areas in southern Lebanon, Israeli Broadcasting Authority said.

Further, an illegal Israeli settler was injured in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights while fires erupted near the city of Safed due to rocket strikes from Lebanon, according to local media reports.

Channel 12 said the rocket fire caused fires in areas near Safed in northern Israel, while an Israeli settler was injured after his vehicle was hit by shrapnel from a rocket in the Golan Heights.

Minutes earlier, the channel reported that sirens had sounded in the Golan Heights.

For its part, Hezbollah said it launched Katyusha rockets at the Al-Aliqa barracks, which houses the headquarters of Israel's 188th Armored Brigade, as well as at air defense bases in the Biriya and Kila barracks in northern Israel.

The Israeli army instructed residents of multiple settlements in the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights to remain near protected areas.

Earlier, the Israeli Army Radio confirmed that the Israeli Air Force launched a fresh wave of airstrikes and artillery bombardments on several locations in southern Lebanon.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified in recent days following a wave of explosions Wednesday that affected ICOM wireless devices across Lebanon, resulting in 25 deaths and 450 injuries.

The explosions followed similar blasts Tuesday that struck pager devices, leading to 12 deaths, including two children, and injuring 2,800 others, with 300 in critical condition.

The Lebanese government and Hezbollah held Israel responsible for the device explosions and threatened it with “severe consequences.”

There has been no Israeli comment on the blasts, which came amid an escalation in cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel’s deadly war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 41,300 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

* Writing by Mohammad Sio