Israeli drones hit areas deep inside Lebanon on Monday, killing one person and wounding another, in retaliation for launches by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.
Israeli drones targeted a car in the town of Kawthariyat al-Rez in Sidon district and a motorbike in al-Naqoura.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said one person was killed and another was injured in the Naqoura strike.
The Israeli army confirmed the strikes and said its warplanes struck the area of Tyre in southern Lebanon and "eliminated the terrorist Ali Hussein Sabra."
The army said Sabra was involved in efforts to equip and enhance Hezbollah’s Aerial Defence Unit, in reference to the drone launches by the movement.
It added that they also struck Hezbollah's infrastructure and several military compounds used by the Hezbollah aerial defence in the area of Qotrani in southern Lebanon.
A Lebanese security source described the situation in southern Lebanon Monday as "real war grounds."
Hezbollah in a statement said in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and "in response to the assassination carried out by the Israeli enemy this afternoon ... the Islamic Resistance [Hezbollah] launched an air attack with a squadron of assault drones on the new [Israeli] leadership headquarters" in northern Israel.
The pro-Iranian movement claimed direct hits.
Meanwhile, Israel's heavy shelling caused several fires in fields in the Western Bekaa region and southern Lebanon.
The escalation came as acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani arrived in Beirut and held talks with Lebanese officials.