GHANDOURIYEH, Lebanon — Israel’s military said no damage was caused to one of its army bases in northern Israel after Hezbollah said it launched explosive drones Tuesday toward the area, while an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon killed three members of the militant group, officials said.
The Israeli military did not specify exactly where the base was located. Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli army’s northern command headquarters in Safed with several drones.
Hezbollah said the attack was in retaliation for an Israeli strike in Beirut last week that killed top Hamas official Saleh Arouri and six others, and for a drone strike on Monday that killed Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil, the most senior member of the Iran-backed group to be killed in recent months.
Safed is a city away from where daily Israel-Hezbollah skirmishes have been taking place.
The Israeli military said its air defense system was activated to try to intercept “hostile aircraft” and that a projectile struck the base, without specifying where it hit.
Hezbollah later said it also attacked at least three Israeli posts along the border.
In Lebanon’s southern village of Ghandouriyeh, an Israeli drone strike hit a car on Tuesday, killing three Hezbollah members, according to two security officials and a Hezbollah official. It came a day after al-Tawil was killed in a drone strike in a nearby village.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.
Tuesday’s attacks relatively far from areas of operations along the Lebanon-Israel border show the rising tensions along the frontier since Hezbollah started attacking Israeli military posts following the deadly Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Hezbollah says by keeping Israel’s northern front active, they are helping reduce pressure on Hamas in Gaza.
Hezbollah has lost 150 fighters in the near-daily exchanges of fire.
There was no immediate word on the identities of the three Hezbollah members who were killed in the strike on Ghandouriyeh, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Israel.
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Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.