Lebanon's Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel after commander's killing

Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launched more than 200 rockets and explosive drones at Israeli military positions on Thursday as tensions have soared amid the almost nine-months-old war raging in Gaza.

The Iran-backed militant group said its latest attack, which followed the launch of over 100 rockets the previous day, was in response to Israel's killing of a senior Hezbollah commander.

Israel did not report any deaths in its northern border area, where most communities have been evacuated, but quickly said it had responded with air strikes on targets in southern Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, have exchanged near daily cross-border fire since the Gaza war erupted on October 7, stoking fears that the clashes could escalate into a new all-out war.

The Israeli military said its forces were "striking launch posts in southern Lebanon" after "numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory", most of which were intercepted.

It said "fires broke out in a number of areas in northern Israel" following the attacks.

Israel on Wednesday killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Mohammed Naameh Nasser, near the Lebanese coastal town of Tyre.

A source close to the group described Nasser as the "Hezbollah commander responsible for one of three sectors in south Lebanon".

Hezbollah said that "as part of the response to the... assassination carried out by the enemy" it had fired "more than 200 rockets of various types" and "a squadron of explosive drones" at Israeli bases including in the annexed Golan Heights.

Air raid sires blared across northern Israel in the morning, and an AFP correspondent witnessed rockets crossing the frontier that...