Israel and Lebanon exchange fierce fire as the IDF vows to “intensify” its attacks on Hezbollah targets

Heavy shelling broke out between Israel and Lebanon overnight after Israeli forces announced they would intensify their attacks on Hezbollah targets.

The Israeli military said it had attacked around 290 targets on Saturday, including thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers. Schools were closed and gatherings restricted in many northern regions of the country early Sunday.

Dozens of warplanes began “large-scale” attacks on southern Lebanon “after discovering that Hezbollah was preparing to fire on Israeli territory,” said Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

Before the Israeli attacks began in the evening, the Israeli army had declared that it had “attacked about 180 sites and thousands of [rocket] Launch tubes with strikes.

Sirens sounded throughout the night as numerous rockets and missiles were fired from Lebanon and Iraq, most of which were intercepted by Israeli air defense systems, the military said.

The Israeli army said more than 100 missiles were fired from Lebanon on September 22 in response to Hezbollah fire.

Israeli security forces work at the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon hit Kiryat Bialik in northern Israel on Sunday.

Rescue workers search through the rubble at the scene of an Israeli attack on Beirut's southern suburbs, as search and rescue operations continue in Beirut, Lebanon.

Some of the shells were intercepted and fallen projectiles were located in Kiryat Bialik, Tsur Shalom and Moreshet, sparking fires in the area, the Israeli military said.

Israeli men hang an Israeli flag over a damaged building hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, as rescue workers work at a site where houses were damaged after the attack, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.

According to the Israeli army, more than 100 shells were fired from Lebanon early Sunday morning. Firefighters are currently working to extinguish the fires caused by falling ammunition.

Israeli media reported that several buildings were hit directly or by falling rocket debris. Emergency services said they had treated some minor injuries. No serious casualties were reported.

Hezbollah said it attacked Israel's Ramat David air base with dozens of rockets in response to “repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon,” the group posted on its Telegram channel early Sunday.

In an initial response to the explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies on Tuesday and Wednesday, Hezbollah also bombed “the Rafael military-industrial complex” in northern Israel with “dozens” of Katyusha, Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets, the group said.

Hezbollah's successive rocket attacks on Ramat David are the heaviest attacks claimed by Hezbollah since hostilities began.

Both the air base and the Rafael site have been featured in Hezbollah drone footage in recent months, with the videos seen as potential targets for the group if the conflict escalates.

In a statement, Iran-backed Iraqi militants also claimed responsibility for an explosive drone attack on Israel early Sunday.

Following the attacks, Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated four people for shrapnel injuries, including a 76-year-old man who was moderately injured near Haifa, where buildings were damaged and cars set on fire.

It was not immediately clear whether the damage was caused by a missile or an Israeli interceptor.

The escalating attacks came less than 48 hours after an Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah commanders in a suburb of the Lebanese capital killed at least 37 people, authorities said.

Hezbollah said 16 of its members were among those killed on Friday, including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another commander, Ahmed Wahbi, in the deadliest attack in the nearly year-long conflict with Israel.

Smoke rose over the Lebanese village of Zawtar overnight following a spate of Israeli air strikes.

An excavator clears rubble from a badly damaged house in Kiryat Bialik in the Israeli district of Haifa.

Israeli security and rescue forces work at the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon hit Kiryat Bialik in northern Israel.

First responders and Israeli security forces gather amid rubble and charred vehicles in Kiryat Bialik in Israel's Haifa district.

Hezbollah said on September 22 that it had attacked military production facilities and an air base near Haifa in northern Israel, after the Israeli military bombed southern Lebanon and attacked thousands of rocket launcher barrels.

The Israeli army said it had attacked an underground gathering of Aqil and leaders of Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, almost completely destroying the military chain of command.

The attack razed a multi-story residential building in the densely populated suburb and damaged a kindergarten next door, a security source said.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, three children and seven women were among the dead.

Friday's attack marked a dramatic escalation of the conflict and was another blow to Hezbollah, following two days of attacks in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded.

The death toll in these attacks, which many believe were carried out by Israel, has risen to 39, with more than 3,000 injured.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

On Sunday, Hezbollah posted on its Telegram channel that it had fired rockets at Israeli arms manufacturing facilities, which it said was a first retaliatory measure for the bomb attacks.

Israel reacted quickly and attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the military said in a statement.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed fears of an escalation, but said the Israeli killing of a high-ranking Hezbollah leader had brought justice to the group, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization.

“While the risk of escalation is real, we believe there is a clear path to a cessation of hostilities and a lasting solution that will provide peace of mind to people on both sides of the border,” Sullivan told reporters.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has cancelled a planned trip to the UN General Assembly in New York.

As fears continue to grow that the conflict could escalate into a full-scale war, the U.S. State Department has issued new travel advisories for citizens currently in Lebanon.

The US Embassy in Beirut urged people to “leave Lebanon while commercial options are still available” and warned that they were already operating at “reduced capacity”.

The embassy added that it “may not be able to assist U.S. citizens who wish to remain.”