Lebanon’s Hezbollah Claims Strikes That Wounded Israeli Soldiers

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group claimed responsibility Monday for a strike that Israel said wounded four soldiers in the country’s north, the latest cross-border fire in more than seven months of clashes.

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire following the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked war in Gaza.

Hezbollah fighters fired “a guided missile” at an Israeli Merkava tank across the border on Monday morning, destroying it “after closely monitoring the enemy’s movements,” the group said in a statement.

The Israeli army said “two anti-tank missiles” crossed from Lebanon into the area of Yiftah, a kibbutz community less than two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the border.

The missiles wounded four Israeli soldiers, the army said, one of them moderately and the rest lightly.

Earlier Monday, Hezbollah said it launched “a swarm of explosive drones” targeting tents and “sleeping quarters” for an Israeli artillery battalion.

The Israeli army said the attack caused no casualties and reported that one drone that crossed from Lebanon fell in a different area.

At least 410 people have been killed in Lebanon in months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also including 79 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 14 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.