An Israeli raid on Saturday targeted a vehicle in southern Lebanon, some 45 km north of the common border, in the first strike deep into Lebanese territory since hostilities began in October, state media said .
The official ANI Agency, which did not report any casualties, specified that “an enemy drone targeted a van which was in an orchard in the Zahrani region”, on the Lebanese coast.
Daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel have generally been limited to the border area between the two countries since the start of the war triggered by the bloody attacks perpetrated on October 7 on Israeli soil by Palestinian Hamas.
This is the first time that an objective has been targeted by an Israeli raid so far from the border.
The journalists were unable to approach the targeted site, a banana plantation, as the Lebanese army prohibited access.
This raid comes a few hours before an expected speech by the leader of powerful Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, scheduled for 1 p.m. GMT.
Bombings continued on both sides of the border on Saturday morning, according to ANI and an AFP journalist in northern Israel.
On Friday, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari declared that Israel was “rare extensively in the north” in response to three drone “infiltrations”.
Hezbollah, for its part, claimed responsibility for several attacks on Israel’s northern border, including three drone attacks, one of which targeted an Israeli army barracks.
It announced Friday the death of seven of its fighters, bringing to 68 the total of its militants killed since it began bombing Israeli positions in solidarity with Hamas, its ally.
At least 90 people were killed on the Lebanese side in total during cross-border clashes, according to an AFP count. Six soldiers and two civilians were killed on the Israeli side.