Lebanese would pay price, Hezbollah warned

Israel's defense minister has warned Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon that launching a war would result in widespread destruction in the country similar to that in Gaza, where Israel are battling Hamas terrorists.

"If it (Hezbollah) makes this kind of mistake here, the ones who will pay the price will be first and foremost Lebanese citizens," Yoav Gallant told soldiers on Israel's northern border in remarks relayed by his office on Saturday.

"What we're doing in Gaza, we can also do in Beirut," he added.

The warning follows Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's statement that the group has "bolstered" its action "on the Lebanese front in terms of the number of operations, targets and the type of weapons" over the past week.

The Shiite Muslim movement has used "Burkan missiles," for the first time, he said, adding that they could carry "a payload of 300 to 500 kilograms."

The group has been using attack drones "for the first time in the history of the resistance" in Lebanon, he said, and has been flying "reconnaissance drones" deep into Israel daily, "some reaching Haifa, Acre and Safed" in the country's north.

Since Hamas' 7 October attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon's southern border has seen intensifying tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian group, stoking fears of a broader conflagration.

Israeli fire has killed at least 68 Hezbollah fighters since last month, according to an Agence France-Presse tally, as well as at least 11 civilians in Lebanon and 12 other combatants.

Six soldiers and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

Syria strikes

Meanwhile, Israeli fighter jets carried out strikes against "terror infrastructure" targets inside Syria in response to cross-border fire directed at the Golan Heights, the military said on Sunday.

"A short while ago, in response to the attack toward the Golan Heights yesterday (Saturday), IDF (Israel Defense Forces) fighter jets struck terror infrastructure sites in Syria," the army said on Telegram.

On Saturday, the army said that two projectiles fired from Syria had landed in uninhabited parts of the Golan Heights and that rocket alert sirens had sounded in the region.

Israel also struck targets in Syria on Friday after a drone launched from there crashed into a school in the southern town of Eilat.

Israel occupied much of the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War, and later annexed it in a move that was never recognized by the United Nations.

Exchanges of cross-border fire have also taken place regularly along the frontier with Lebanon, as Israel continues to press its offensive against Hamas.