Israel targets Hezbollah terror cells as conflict in Lebanon flares up

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel reported that two had been killed in Israeli shelling.

 HEZBOLLAH MEMBERS hold flags marking Resistance and Liberation Day, in Kfar Kila near the Lebanese border with Israel in May. (photo credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)
HEZBOLLAH MEMBERS hold flags marking Resistance and Liberation Day, in Kfar Kila near the Lebanese border with Israel in May.
(photo credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

The IDF struck on Friday a terrorist cell operating in Lebanese territory adjacent to the Israeli border community of Zar'it in response to rocket strikes by Hezbollah, the IDF stated on Friday afternoon.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli air defense systems intercepted a suspicious aerial target that had crossed from Lebanese territory into Israel, the IDF noted. Israeli rocket and missile alarms sounded in the country's North after the target was initially identified.

Later, more rocket launches from Lebanon were fired at IDF posts in northern Israel in the areas of Rosh HaNikra and Margaliot, as well as Kiryat Shmona. 

The IDF responded to the attacks with artillery fire targeting the source of the launches.

Hezbollah says Israeli shelling kills three

Reuters, citing the Hezbollah television channel Al-Manar, reported on Friday that Israeli shelling of Houla, a border town in southern Lebanon, had resulted in the deaths of two people. Another Reuters report citing Lebanon's state news agency later updated the toll to three.

The IDF targets a terror cell in southern Lebanon. December 1, 2023. (Credit: IDF)

The exchange of fire between Israel and fighters in Lebanon comes in the wake of the collapse of the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas and as fighting resumes in the Gaza Strip.

Later on Friday, the IDF said that it had hit more terror infrastructure in Lebanon and named Hezbollah as the target.

According to the Israeli military, a coordinated attack consisting of airstrikes, combat helicopter strikes, and artillery fire slammed into Hezbollah's terror infrastructure.

The IDF also said that it targeted a cell in the area of Malkiya, a kibbutz near the Lebanon border, that had been attempting to attack northern Israel.