Following the death of an Islamist commander, the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon claimed on Sunday that it had used an armed drone to target a military station in northern Israel.
Since the Gaza war broke out on October 7, Israel and the potent force sponsored by Iran, which is an ally of Hamas, have been exchanging almost daily cross-border gunfire.
Hezbollah made its announcement a few hours after it released a video clip that appeared to indicate places in Israel and their coordinates, escalating concerns about a full-scale confrontation between the two enemies.
One of the group’s commanders, Ayman Ghotmeh, was slain “in a treacherous Zionist raid” in Khiara, in the eastern Bekaa region of Lebanon, the Jamaa Islamiya group announced on Saturday.
Israel later confirmed it had carried out the strike, saying Ghotmeh was responsible for supplying the Fajr Forces, Jamaa Islamiya’s armed wing, and Hamas with weapons in the area.
Hezbollah on Sunday said its fighters launched a strike “with an attack drone” on a military leadership position in the Beit Hillel barracks “in response to the assassination carried out by the Israeli enemy in the town of Khiara”.
The Israeli military meanwhile said in a statement that a drone had “crossed from Lebanon and fell in the area of Beit Hillel”, adding that “no injuries were reported”.
Cross-border tensions have surged over the past days, with Israel’s military announcing on Tuesday that a plan for an offensive in Lebanon had been “approved and validated”.
In response, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, threatened to destroy all of Israel in the case of a full-scale conflict.
A video with Israeli positions and coordinates and a quote from Nasrallah’s address, “if war is imposed on Lebanon, the resistance will fight without restrictions or rules,” was released by the Lebanese armed group on Saturday night.
A few days prior, a nine-minute film that appeared to be captured from above by the organization was making the rounds in northern Israel. It supposedly featured important military, defense, and energy assets and infrastructure in the port and city of Haifa.
The cross-border violence has killed at least 480 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also 93 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the country’s north.
