All the latest updates from the crisis in the Middle East.
ADVERTISEMENTHezbollah has launched a drone attack on northern Israel that the Israeli military said wounded two Israeli troops and set off a fire.
The violence came as fears of an all-out regional war mount following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah said in a statement early on Monday that it targeted a military base in northern Israel in response to «attacks and assassinations» carried out by Israel in several villages in south Lebanon.
The attack did not appear to be part of a more intense retaliation expected in response to the killing of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut last week.
The Israeli military said fire services were working to put out a fire that was ignited as a result of the attack in Ayelet HaShahar in the upper Galilee.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, but they have previously kept the conflict at a low level that had not escalated into full-on war.
Last week’s assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital, Tehran, and Hezbollah commander Shukur in Beirut raised tensions in the region. Israel has been bracing for a retaliation from Iran and its allied militias.
Israeli is in a ‘multi-front war,’ says Netanyahu
Israel is already in a «multi-front war» with Iran and its proxies, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He made the comments at a cabinet meeting on Sunday as the US and allies prepare to defend Israel from an expected counterstrike and prevent an even more destructive regional conflict.
«Anyone who harms our country will be held accountable,» Netanyahu said at a state memorial ceremony in Jerusalem. «Iran and its proxies seek to surround us with a stranglehold of terror on seven fronts.»
Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran.
Iran and its allies have blamed Israel and threatened retaliation.
In Israel, some prepared bomb shelters and recalled Iran’s unprecedented direct military assault in April following a suspected Israeli strike that killed two Iranian generals.
Israel said almost all the drones and ballistic and cruise missiles in that attack were intercepted.
Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas have vowed to avenge the killings.
As the situation in the Middle East becomes more tense, many Western airlines cancelled or suspended flights to Israel and Lebanon.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged its nationals «to make arrangements now to leave Lebanon as soon as possible».
