Israel's military said Thursday (October 3) it killed 15 Hezbollah militants in an air strike on southern Lebanon, as the Iran-backed movement said it thwarted an Israeli advance at the border, reports AFP.
Israel announced this week that its troops had started "ground raids" into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after days of heavy bombardment on areas across the country where the group holds sway.
The bombing has killed more than 1,000 people, according to Lebanese health ministry figures, and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in a country already mired in economic and political crisis.
Israel, at war with Hamas in Gaza since its October 7 attack, shifted its focus to securing its northern border with Lebanon, the scene of near-daily clashes since Hezbollah launched low-intensity strikes in support of its Palestinian ally.
The clashes have forced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides to flee their homes, and Israel has vowed to ensure its citizens can return.
The Israeli military said Thursday it conducted a strike that killed 15 Hezbollah fighters in the Bint Jbeil municipality in south Lebanon, an area that had been heavily damaged during Israel's last war with the militant group in 2006.
Israel told Lebanese to evacuate another 25 villages in the south, while Hezbollah issued a statement saying it had fought off a bid by the Israeli army to advance at Fatima's Gate, another point along the border.
It also kept up its strikes on Israel, saying it had fired a barrage of rockets at the city of Tiberias in what it said was a response to the bombardment of Lebanese "towns, villages and civilians."
Central Beirut strike
Earlier Thursday, Israel carried out a deadly air raid in central Beirut after eight of its ground troops were killed in combat near the border.
Multiple explosions in Beirut overnight were audible from kilometers (miles) away. AFP correspondents said buildings shook and they saw columns of smoke rising into the sky above Lebanon's capital in the morning.
The strike in the heart of Beirut hit an emergency services rescue facility run by Hezbollah, killing seven workers, the service said.
"We are peaceful civilians in our homes," said Hassan Ammar, 82, who had been staying in the high-rise building whose walls were partly blown out by the strike.
The building near downtown Beirut had become Ammar's temporary home after he fled south Lebanon.
Israel's military on Thursday did not immediately comment on the central Beirut strike, but said it had struck about 200 Hezbollah targets "in Lebanese territory."
Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said Israel's attacks may have displaced up to one million people.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an end to the "sickening cycle of escalation" in the Middle East, the G7 group of wealthy nations said a diplomatic solution was "still possible".
Months of similar calls and mediation efforts have so far failed to bring a Gaza truce.
Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels said they carried out a drone attack on Tel Aviv, although there was no direct confirmation from Israeli authorities.
Hezbollah began strikes on Israeli troops a day after Hamas staged its October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,788 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.
