Israel targeted a suburb of Beirut with an airstrike on Friday, shortly after Hezbollah hit northern Israel with 140 rockets following the leader of the militant group, Hassan Nasrallah, promising to retaliate against Israel for massive explosions, as reported by the Israeli military forces and the Lebanese rebel group.
The Israeli military forces indicated that they had carried out a "targeted attack" in Beirut. They did not provide further details at the moment, but explosions could be heard coming from the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.
The television network Al-Mayadeen, based in Beirut, reported that a drone launched several missiles against a highly populated area known as Dahiyeh.
A Hezbollah member, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, confirmed to The Associated Press that an airstrike had hit the area, without providing further details.
The attack occurred after Hezbollah struck Israel with 140 rockets, which, according to the Israeli military forces, came in three waves and targeted sites along the devastated border with Lebanon.
After the attacks, the Israeli military forces pointed out that they had targeted areas in southern Lebanon, aiming at Hezbollah infrastructure, but did not provide details on the damages.
Hezbollah said that their attacks had hit several sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including several air defense bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armored brigade, which they claimed to have attacked for the first time.
The Israeli military forces pointed out that 120 missiles were launched against areas in the Golan Heights, Safed, and northern Galilee, some of which were intercepted. Firefighters were working to extinguish fires caused by missile fragments that fell in several areas, according to the military forces.
They did not say if any missiles had reached targets or caused casualties.
Another 20 missiles were launched against the areas of Meron and Netu'a and most of them fell in open spaces, said the military forces, adding that no injuries had been reported.
Hezbollah stated that the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli attacks on towns and homes in southern Lebanon, not for the two days of attacks widely attributed to Israel, in which thousands of the militia group's beepers and walkie-talkies exploded.
On Thursday, Israel said that its army had attacked "hundreds of rocket launchers" in southern Lebanon, stating that "they were ready to be used in the immediate future to fire towards Israeli territory."
The army also ordered residents in some areas of the Golan Heights and northern Israel to avoid public gatherings, minimize travel, and stay close to shelters in anticipation of the rocket launch that finally occurred on Friday.
Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging attacks almost daily since October 8, a day after the Hamas attack in southern Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. However, the barrage of rockets on Friday was more intense than usual.