During the night against Friday, Israel also carried out at least ten attacks against the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, causing massive destruction, reports Lebanon's state news agency NNA. Dozens of buildings were leveled to the ground and several fires are said to have broken out.
According to Israel's military, weapon factories and command centers belonging to Hezbollah were attacked in the assault, which was preceded by an Israeli evacuation order. The suburb of al-Dahiya is generally considered one of the Iran-backed Shia militia's strongest strongholds.
Injured in Israel
Also Nabatieh in southern Lebanon was attacked during the night, according to Israel's military.
Early on Saturday morning, Swedish time, 19 people were injured in an attack in the city of Tira in Israel, reports Israel's rescue service. Four of them were more seriously injured.
Israel's military reports that three projectiles entered the country from Lebanon, some of which could be neutralized. On films published by the country's foreign ministry on social media, flames and smoke can be seen billowing out of a building.
"This is the result of a direct hit from a Hezbollah rocket against a building in the Israeli Arab city of Tira", writes the ministry in the post.
On Saturday morning, the Iran-backed Shia militia Hezbollah announced that it was taking responsibility for the attack on Israel, and that it had fired rockets at the military base at Glilot, outside Tel Aviv.
UN forces remain
Despite the escalating war, the UN peacekeeping forces will remain in southern Lebanon. This was reiterated by Jean-Pierre Lacroix, head of the peacekeeping operations on Friday.
If they were to leave, it would likely mean that facilities belonging to the UN would be taken over by one of the warring parties.
It would be very bad for many reasons, including the perception of the UN's impartiality and neutrality, says Lacroix.
Eight UN soldiers have been injured since October 1, but all have since recovered. Additionally, facilities belonging to the UN forces, including an observation tower, have been damaged in the fighting.
