BEIRUT, April  17, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Lebanon's Hezbollah group said it 
attacked an Israeli army base near the border on Wednesday, with the latest in 
a series of tit-for-tat strikes wounding 14 soldiers, according to Israel's 
military.

       Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally, have been exchanging 
near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian militant group attacked 
southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.

       But Wednesday's incident marked the third day in a row that Hezbollah 
strikes wounded people in Israel, with regional tensions high after Iran 
launched a direct attack on Israel over the weekend in retaliation for a deadly 
strike on Tehran's Damascus consulate.

       Hours after the strike on Arab al-Aramshe, an Arab-majority village in 
northern Israel near the border, Israeli forces hit targets in eastern Lebanon, 
a Hezbollah source told AFP.

       According to the source, the strike targeted a warehouse in Iaat, a 
residential area near Baalbek, and "lightly" wounded one man.

       The official National News Agency reported three drone strikes in the area, 
a Hezbollah stronghold far from the border with Israel.

       An AFP photographer said the warehouse that was hit stored vegetables and 
agricultural produce.

       There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which earlier 
said 14 soldiers were wounded in the strike on northern Israel, including six 
seriously.

       Hezbollah said it launched "a combined attack with guided missiles and 
explosive drones on a new military reconnaissance command centre in Arab 
al-Aramshe".

       According to the Israeli army, "a number of launches from Lebanon were 
identified crossing into the area of Arab al-Aramshe," and Israeli forces 
struck the sources of the fire.

       Hezbollah said the attack came "in response to the enemy assassinating a 
number of resistance fighters in Ain Baal and Shehabiya" on Tuesday.

       On Tuesday, Israel said its strikes in south Lebanon killed two local 
Hezbollah commanders and another operative, with the Iran-backed group saying 
three of its members were killed as it launched rockets in retaliation.

       Local Israeli authorities said three people were wounded in a strike from 
Lebanon earlier that day.

       On Monday, Hezbollah targeted Israeli troops with explosive devices, 
wounding four soldiers who crossed into Lebanese territory, the first such 
attack in six months of clashes.

       The violence has killed at least 368 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah 
fighters but also at least 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

       In Israel, the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been 
killed near the northern border since hostilities began.

       Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes on both sides of the 
border, with the violence fuelling fears of all-out conflict between Hezbollah 
and Israel, which last went to war in 2006.