Hezbollah hit hard

Hezbollah intensified its attacks against Israel on Thursday from southern Lebanon, where it lost seven fighters, including members of its elite unit, in Israeli airstrikes. 

In successive statements, Hezbollah, which intervenes against Israel to support its ally, the Palestinian Hamas, claimed responsibility for more than 20 attacks on Israeli military positions.

These attacks included the firing of 48 Katyusha rockets at a military base near the city of Safed in northern Israel, the largest rocket barrage fired from Lebanon since the violence began on October 7. Additionally, a Burkan missile, capable of carrying massive explosive charges, was used.

"In response to the fire towards Israel (...), IDF helicopters and fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and rocket launch sites in Lebanon," the Israeli military stated.

Israel also heavily bombed border villages in southern Lebanon, according to the official National News Agency (ANI), which did not report any casualties.

This escalation followed the death of five Shiite party fighters, including the son of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc leader, Mohamed Raad, in Israeli airstrikes.

Abbas Raad, along with four other Hezbollah members, was killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the village of Beit Yahoun on Wednesday night, according to a family source who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

According to a source close to the Shiite party, two leaders of the al-Radwan force, Hezbollah's elite unit, are among the five killed.

On Thursday, Hezbollah announced that two more of its fighters had "fallen as martyrs on the road to Jerusalem," a term used by the Shiite group to refer to its militants killed since the start of the war between Israel and Gaza on October 7.