Hezbollah has unleashed a barrage of rockets on several Israeli settlements hours after Israel‘s Defence Forces (IDF) launched raids on southern Lebanon and were met with heavy resistance.
The Lebanese group targeted the villages of Shtula and Metula just across the border, and also sent dozens of rockets streaming into the city of Haifa – a major port city in Israel’s north.
Meanwhile, the IDF reported troops who crossed the UN-demarcated ‘Blue Line’ that separates Israel from Lebanon were embroiled in bitter fighting with Hezbollah militants as day broke.
The Israeli military said the operations in Lebanon began on Monday night and involved the elite 98th division, which was deployed to the northern front two weeks ago from Gaza where they had been fighting against Hamas for months.
It said its air force and artillery supported ground troops engaged in ‘limited, localised, and targeted ground raids’ against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon villages that posed ‘an immediate threat to…