Hezbollah fires 160 projectiles at Israel

Israel's army said Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into its territory from Lebanon yesterday, with the group saying its attacks had targeted the Tel Aviv area and Israel's south.

The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it had "launched, for the first time, an aerial attack using a swarm of attack drones on the Ashdod naval base" in southern Israel.

Later, it said it fired "a barrage of advanced missiles and a swarm of attack drones" at a "military target" in Tel Aviv, and had also launched a volley of missiles at the Glilot army intelligence base in the city's suburbs.

The Israeli military did not comment on the specific attack claims when contacted by AFP.

But it said earlier that air raid sirens had sounded in several locations in central and northern Israel, including in the greater Tel Aviv suburbs.

It later reported that "approximately 160 projectiles that were fired by the Hezbollah have crossed from Lebanon into Israel". Some of the projectiles were shot down.

Medical agencies reported that at least 11 people were wounded, including a man in a "moderate to serious" condition.

In southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said an Israeli strike on a post killed a soldier.

"One soldier was martyred, and 18 others were injured, including some with severe wounds, as a result of an Israeli attack targeting a Lebanese army centre in Amriyeh," the army said in a statement.

The Lebanon Ministry of Health said an Israeli drone targeted an ambulance as it was heading to Ain Baal for a rescue operation. When a second ambulance rushed to the scene of the attack, it was also pursued and targeted by an Israeli drone.

The attacks resulted in the killing of two paramedics and the injury of four others.

Separately, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee has ordered residents living in the villages and towns of East Zotar, West Zotar, Arnoun, Yahmar and al-Qasiba in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes.

Claiming without evidence that these towns are hosting Hezbollah, he said the Israeli army would be operating against them shortly.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes have killed at least 3,670 people and injured 15,413 in Lebanon since October 2023. The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Meanwhile, a gunman was dead and three Jordanian policemen injured after a shooting near the heavily fortified Israeli embassy in the capital Amman in yesterday's early hours, reports Reuters.

Police shot a gunman who had fired at a police patrol in the affluent Rabiah neighbourhood of the Jordanian capital, the state news agency Petra reported, citing public security, adding investigations were ongoing.

The gunman, who was carrying an automatic weapon, was chased for at least an hour before he was cornered and killed just before dawn, according to a security source.