JERUSALEM, July 30: Isreal's military said it has struck several targets in neighbouring Lebanon linked to Hezbollah.
In a post on X on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had hit 10 targets linked to the Iran-aligned armed group in at least seven different areas of south Lebanon in overnight attacks. The attacks come amid growing worries over the threat that the war in Gaza could spark a regional conflict.
The attacks, which the military said killed one Hezbollah fighter, came after Israeli officials promised retaliation for a rocket strike that hit a playground in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah has denied carrying out the attack.
The Israeli military said it also "struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility, terror infrastructure sites, military structures and a launcher in southern Lebanon".
Hezbollah confirmed one of its fighters had been killed, the Reuters news agency reported.
Following the Majdal Shams attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the town on Sunday and promised a "severe response".
The overnight attacks announced on Tuesday marked at least three Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory since.
A high-ranking Hezbollah source pledged to Al Jazeera that the armed group would respond to any Israeli aggression in Lebanon, including a ground invasion.
It was the first time that Hezbollah has commented on Israel's threats of retaliation.
Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, quoted Hezbollah sources as saying that regardless of the nature of an Israeli attack, "whether it is limited or not," the group "will respond".
Foreign intermediaries have reportedly pleaded with Hezbollah for restraint "so the conflict can be contained and not spiral out of control," our correspondent said.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah claimed that its air defence units had repelled Israeli warplanes that broke the sound barrier over Lebanese airspace.
The group said on Telegram that the aircraft were forced by fire "to retreat behind the borders inside occupied Palestine".
Quoting Israel's N12, Reuters reported that a rocket fired from Lebanon had killed an Israeli civilian.
Pushed by his nationalist coalition partners, Netanyahu has employed hardline rhetoric over the attack in the Golan Heights.
However, it's widely thought that Israel is eager to avoid opening up another front as it continues to fight Hamas in Gaza and bombard the enclave.
Israeli officials told Reuters on Monday that while Israel wanted to hurt Hezbollah, it does not want to drag the Middle East into all-out war. —AL JAZEERA
