Skip to main content

Hezbollah claims attack against Israeli military on Lebanese border

Anti-tank missile strikes Israeli army vehicle on Lebanon border hours after IDF strike on Syria government positions
Israeli Merkava tanks pass near the border with the Gaza Strip on their way back from the Palestinian coastal enclave (AFP)

An anti-tank missile was fired at an Israeli military vehicle near the Lebanon border on Wednesday, wounding four soldiers, a military source said.

The incident came several hours after Israel launched an airstrike in Syria amid tensions that have escalated in the frontier area over the past 10 days.

Lebanon's Hezbollah, a dominant force on the Lebanese side of the border, claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Hours after the attack on the military vehicle, Israeli tanks shelled areas of southeastern Lebanon hitting five Lebanese border villages as Israeli warplanes flew over the area, a security source told AFP.

There was no immediate information on casualties.

On Tuesday, at least two rockets from Syria hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and Israel responded with artillery fire.

An Israeli air strike on a Hezbollah convoy near the Golan on 18 January killed a commander of the militant group, the son of its late military leader, Imad Moughniyeh, and Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Mohammed Allahdadi.

Both Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006, and the Revolutionary Guards vowed to avenge the deaths.

Since that airstrike, troops and civilians in northern Israel and the Golan Heights have been on heightened alert and Israel has deployed Iron Dome rocket interceptors near the Syrian border

More to follow...

New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch

Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters

Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.