Tensions across the Middle East soared as Hezbollah militants targeted Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border village of Labbouneh with artillery shells and rockets on Wednesday, the group said, a day after Israel said it had killed two successors to its slain leader.
Reuters reports that the Israeli military said three of its soldiers were severely injured on Tuesday and Wednesday during combat in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, sirens blared across northern Israel on Wednesday after Israel continued its attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
This is a marked escalation of the conflict in Lebanon as the region reels from a year of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. In recent weeks, Israel has carried out a spate of high-profile assassinations of top Hezbollah leaders and launched ground operations into southern Lebanon that expanded further this week.
Hezbollah says it has clashed with Israeli troops on Lebanese soil, including with artillery fire and rockets, but that it has managed to push the troops back and prevent them from holding territory in Lebanon, reports Reuters.
