JERUSALEM

Israeli media reported the firing of at least 50 rockets fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel since early Friday.

Israeli Channel 12 said most of the rockets were fired towards the Galilee region, northern Israel, including the Miron and Metula settlements, and triggered the activation of sirens.

The news channel, however, said some of the rockets were intercepted by the Israeli army's air defenses, while others landed in open areas.

No damage or casualties were reported from the rockets, Channel 12 added.

Lebanese group Hezbollah, for its part, on Friday said it carried out five rounds of rocket and drone strikes against Israeli targets including a major rocket barrage targeting the Zevulun settlement near Haifa, northern Israel.

Earlier on Friday, Hezbollah said it is entering a new phase in its fight against invading Israeli troops.

Israel dramatically escalated its massive bombing campaign across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,437 people, injuring over 4,123 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed 42,500 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, on Oct. 1 it expanded the conflict by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar