Hizbollah says launched rocket salvo at north Israel after civilian death

BEIRUT — Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah group said it launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed a civilian in the country's south.

Israel and Hizbollah, an ally of Hamas, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian fighter group's October 7 attack on Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip.

Hizbollah fighters launched "dozens of Katyusha rockets" at army barracks in northern Israel "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks... and the killing of a civilian", the Lebanese group said in a statement.

The Israeli army identified “approximately 15 projectiles... crossing from Lebanon, and 10 were successfully intercepted” without causing casualties, it said in a statement.

The army also said it struck a “Hizbollah military structure” in the area of the border village of Yarin.

Earlier Tuesday, Lebanese state media, an official and a minister said an Israeli strike killed a civilian in the country’s south.

“The strike that targeted Bustan killed a civilian,” said Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, after earlier reporting Israeli warplanes had struck the village.

Bustan Mayor Adnan Ahmed told AFP the strike killed Muhieddin Abu Dallah, a farmer in his 50s, and damaged his house and agricultural machinery.

In a post on social media platform X, Agriculture Minister Abbas Al Hajj Hassan described Abu Dallah as “a Lebanese farmer who resisted the occupation by remaining steadfast on his land, and sacrificed his life”.

The violence between Hezbollah and Israel has killed 493 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 95 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to authorities.

Fears had mounted that the cross-border clashes could turn into a full-blown conflict until the past week, when the fighting dropped in intensity.