Hezbollah, Israel rocket fire marks week of dangerous escalation in Lebanon

Israel and Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah exchanged rocket fire on Friday morning in what was the most serious escalation of fighting between the two since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Hezbollah launched at least 10 rockets into Israel, around the Shebaa Farms which Israel has occupied since the 1980s. Israel retaliated with artillery strikes, shelling rocket launch sites, according to the Israeli army. The Lebanese army said that 40 Israeli artillery shells fell in mostly empty areas of the country’s south.

In a statement released by Hezbollah, the group said that Friday’s rockets were launched in retaliation to Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon the previous night.

Artillery and rocket fire ceased and calm prevailed in the areas near the border by early afternoon.

No injuries were reported on either side, though some residents were temporarily displaced in southern Lebanon, the mayor of Kafr Shuba, a town in the country’s south told The New Arab's Arabic-language service.

According to Israeli media, most of Hezbollah’s rockets were either intercepted by the country’s missile defence system or fell into open areas near Shebaa Farms.