Israel said it destroyed 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers in one of the most intense bombing raids into Lebanon since the war began.
The IDF said fighter jets also struck additional “terrorist infrastructure sites” consisting of some 1,000 barrels, from which missiles are fired, that were ready to be used in the “immediate future” against Israel.
No one appears to have died in the Thursday night strikes, which were focused away from major population centres to avoid further escalation.
Shortly after the attack, the IDF instructed residents of seven communities along the Lebanese border, as well as communities in the northern Golan Heights, to minimize movements, avoid gatherings, control community gates and stay close to shelters.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon urged de-escalation, saying it had witnessed “a heavy intensification of the hostilities across the Blue Line”, a UN-drawn frontier that separates Israel from Lebanon in the absence of a mutual agreement.