BEIRUT: Lebanon's movement Hezbollah launched a series of drone and rocket attacks into northern Israel on Tuesday but warned that its much-anticipated retaliation for Israel's killing of a top commander last week was yet to come.
Hezbollah said it launched a swarm of attack drones at two military sites near Acre in northern Israel, and also attacked an Israeli military vehicle in another location.
The Israeli military said a number of hostile drones were identified crossing from Lebanon and one was intercepted.
Israeli medical officials said seven people were evacuated to hospital, to the south of the coastal city of Nahariya, one in critical condition.
The Israeli military said an initial investigation indicated the injuries were caused by an interceptor that "missed the target and hit the ground, injuring several civilians." It said the incident was still under review. TV footage showed one impact site near a bus stop on a main road outside Nahariya.
In a statement, the Israeli military said sirens sounded around Acre, but that turned out to be a false alarm.
Fears are rising that the Middle East could be tipped into full-blown war following vows by Hezbollah to avenge Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr's killing, and by Iran to respond to the assassination in Tehran last week of the head of Palestinian group Hamas. A Hezbollah source said that "the response to the assassination of commander Fuad Shukr has not yet come."
Earlier on Tuesday, four people were killed in a strike on a home in the Lebanese town of Mayfadoun, nearly 30 km north of the border, medics and a security source said.
Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been trading fire for the last 10 months in parallel with the Gaza war.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces backed by drone strikes killed at least 12 people in the occupied West Bank, medics said on Tuesday, after raids around two flashpoint cities in the north led to gunbattles with Palestinian militants.
The Israeli military said it conducted two separate air strikes in the volatile city of Jenin, hitting armed militant cells, but gave no details.
The Palestinian health ministry said five people were killed in the strikes against two vehicles in Jenin, one of the most turbulent centres of militant activity in the West Bank. Another person was critically wounded.
The strikes came during an Israeli military operation in Jenin in which footage shared on social media showed a column of armoured personnel carriers entering the city and armoured bulldozers digging up roads. — Reuters
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