The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in south Lebanon on Sunday morning that were aimed at northern and central Israel.

“Approximately 100 IAF fighter jets struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels that were located and embedded in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.

Israel’s latest action in Lebanon came amid repeated calls by the Philippine government to Filipinos working there to get themselves repatriated while the airport in the besieged nation is still open.

The Philippines’ foreign affairs and migrant workers departments have placed the status of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon at Alert 3, prescribing voluntary repatriation.

Of the about 11,000 Filipinos in Lebanon, only some 1,000 have manifested their intention to come home to the Philippines.

Alert Level 4, if it is raised by the Philippine government, would mandate the mandatory repatriation of OFWs from Lebanon.

“Most of these launchers were aimed toward northern Israel and some were aimed toward central Israel,” the Israeli government said after their “pre-emptive strike” in Lebanon.

Hezbollah in turn “fired hundreds of rockets and UAVs towards northern Israel,” most of them after Israel launched its attack, Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters.

The fire from Hezbollah was “part of a larger attack that was planned and we were able to thwart a big part of it this morning,” Shoshani said, while declining to specify what Hezbollah had targeted.

“We’re still in a situation assessment of the aftermath of the attack... there is still some fire happening,” Shoshani said. “But I can tell you there was a little damage... very little damage.”

Shoshani said Israel’s partners including the United States did not take part in Sunday’s attack on Hezbollah. “This morning was an Israeli operation,” he said.

Hezbollah said its military operation against Israeli positions on Sunday was “completed” after announcing a large-scale attack with rockets and drones, and denying “claims” that Israel had thwarted the attack. “Our military operation today is completed and accomplished,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement. Israeli “claims of pre-emptive action it carried out... and the thwarting of the resistance’s attack are empty claims,” it added.