Beirut, May 6 (IANS): The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said it launched Katyusha rockets on Israeli settlements and military sites on Monday in response to Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon a day earlier.

The group said in a statement that in response to the Israeli attacks on Sunday that killed four civilians and destroyed several civilian homes, "the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted, through six operations, the colonies of Kiryat Shmona, Avivim, Shtula, Kfar Yuval, Kfar Giladi and Zaoura positions in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights."

Meanwhile, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua that around 60 surface-to-surface projectiles were launched in the early morning on Monday towards northern Israel, some of which were intercepted by Israeli Iron Dome missiles, while others exploded in the airspace of the Kafr Kila area and the Khiam village in southeastern Lebanon.

The sources, who wished to remain anonymous, added that Israeli warplanes carried out an air raid at dawn on Monday on the town of Al-Safari, adjacent to the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, which is about 100 km from the Lebanese-Israeli border. The raid destroyed a house and a factory for packaging tissue paper, wounding three people, who were later hospitalised in Baalbek.

Tensions along the Lebanese-Israeli border have escalated since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah, in solidarity with Hamas, launched a barrage of rockets toward Israel. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have since killed 449 people on the Lebanese side, including 283 Hezbollah members and 84 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources.