Israel launches deadly air strikes in Lebanon after rockets hit army base

BBC News:

At least seven civilians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, security sources say, after Hezbollah rocket fire killed a soldier in Israel.

A woman and two children were killed in Souaneh, and at least four members of a family were later killed in Nabatieh.

At least two Hezbollah fighters were also killed in attacks in southern Lebanon, the group said.

Israel’s military said it hit Hezbollah infrastructure in response to a deadly rocket attack on northern Israel.

Hezbollah fighters have exchanged fire with Israeli forces almost every day along the border since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip in October.

The clashes have raised fears of a wider regional conflict.

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On Wednesday morning, sirens sounded across northern Israel as barrages of rockets were fired towards the border communities of Netua and Manara, and the town of Safed, which is 14 km (9 miles) south of the frontier.

One Israeli soldier was killed and seven others were wounded after their base in Safed was hit by rockets, Israeli media and emergency services said. The soldier who died was later identified as Staff-Sergeant Omer Sarah Benjo.

A video showed that another rocket landed near the gate of Safed’s hospital.

Hezbollah later claimed it had attacked an “enemy position” in Safed “in support of the people and resistance of Gaza which is being subjected to brutal Zionist aggression with a US green light”.

In the afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that fighter jets had “struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets” in Souaneh, Aadchit, Jabal al-Braij, Kfar Houneh and Kfar Dunin in response to the rocket fire.