Hezbollah, Israeli army engage in fierce exchange of fire

An artillery vehicle on the outskirts of Kiryat Shmona near Israel's border with Lebanon. [AFP]

A fierce exchange of fire broke out between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on Friday along the border area between Lebanon and Israel, involving heavy machine gun fire, artillery and missile shelling, as well as airstrikes, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

According to the anonymous sources, there are no reports of casualties yet.

Israeli drones and warplanes launched nine raids on seven towns and villages in southern Lebanon and three raids on areas in Hermel, Al-Qasr, and the Matraba crossing on the Lebanese-Syrian border in the east of the country, said the sources.

"The Lebanese army positions monitored the launch of about 50 surface-to-surface missiles from the Lebanese side to Israel in three separate batches, and the Israeli Iron Dome missiles intercepted some of them," the sources added.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced on Friday the targeting of Israeli positions in the Western Galilee with Katyusha missiles and the positions of Al-Raheb, Al-Marj, Bayad Blida, and Al-Samaqa.

The party said it fired an air defense missile at an Israeli warplane flying in the airspace of the western region of the south, causing the plane to redirect towards the airspace of occupied Palestine.

A state of anticipation and caution prevails in Lebanon following Israel's attack on Dahieh in Beirut's southern suburbs on Tuesday, killing a Hezbollah senior military commander, Fouad Shokor, and seven civilians.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has threatened a definite and painful response to the Israeli raid at the appropriate time and place.