Israeli air strikes killed 16 people in Lebanon overnight and a barrage of retaliatory rocket fire by Hizbollah militants killed one person in Israel, making Wednesday the deadliest day of fighting across the Lebanese border since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
The incidents came amid an uptick in crossfire in recent days between Israel’s military and Iran-backed Hizbollah, including Israel’s deepest strikes into Lebanese territory during the current conflict. The latest outbreak of violence followed a relative lull in the tit-for-tat cross-border attacks that began at the same time as the war in Gaza.
The clashes between Israel and Hizbollah, and targeted assassinations by Israel of senior figures in Hamas and Hizbollah on Lebanese soil, have fuelled concerns about a broader regional conflagration, and have led to the mass evacuation of civilians on both sides of the frontier.