BEIRUT/SANAA - Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced on Thursday that it targeted Israeli sites with rockets in response to an airstrike on southern Lebanon that killed four Syrians.
"In response to the attack that targeted Chamaa and the martyrdom of several civilians, the Islamic Resistance fighters bombed today enemy army sites in western Galilee and the settlement of Matzuva with dozens of Katyusha rockets," it said in a statement.
Hezbollah added that it also attacked the Jal al-Alam site with rockets.
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Lebanese military sources told Xinhua that the Lebanese army monitored the launching of about 70 surface-to-surface rockets in two separate batches from the Lebanese side into Israel, and some of them were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system.
The source noted that the Israeli army shelled and launched several air raids on several towns and villages in southern Lebanon, killing four Syrians and injuring four Lebanese civilians.
The latest attacks came amid rising tensions between Hezbollah and Israel following Tuesday's Israeli attack on Dahieh in Beirut's southern suburbs, killing Hezbollah's top military commander, Fouad Shokor. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatened a definite and painful response to the Israeli attack at the appropriate time and place.
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Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi warned on Thursday that the Houthi group will "inevitably" mount a military response to Israel's recent escalation.
"The stance of the 'axis of resistance' is unequivocal: There must be a military response to Israeli transgressions," al-Houthi said in a televised address.
The Houthi leader condemned the killing of Hamas Politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh as "a blatant violation of international norms" and "a brazen crime that underscores Israel's disregard for human rights".
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He further denounced Tuesday's Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut that killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Fouad Shokor, labeling it a "dangerous escalation".
The Houthi group, now controlling large swathes of northern Yemen, is aligned with the anti-Israel "axis of resistance", which also includes Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and militant groups in Iraq, among others.
Since November last year, the Houthi group has been targeting ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden using ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones to show solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
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Haniyeh, who was in the Iranian capital of Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday, was killed alongside his bodyguard early Wednesday when their residence was struck. Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the assassination, though Israel has not confirmed its involvement.
