Hezbollah claims to have 'destroyed Israeli military bases in blistering missile strike' as clashes continue in Lebanon on Yom Kippur
Rockets are fired from Lebanon towards Israel on Friday, as pictured from Tyre
Hezbollah claimed it had destroyed four military bases in Israel today as it launched a blistering rocket attack across the southern border.
The Iranian-proxy group said it had hit bases in Al-Jarrah, Za'rit and bases in the Golan Heights after claiming to have pushed back advancing forces late Friday.
Its fighters were 'targeting the explosives factory there with a salvo of... missiles', the group said in a statement this morning.
Sirens sounded in northern Israel, with the military saying it had 'successfully intercepted' a 'number of launches' from Lebanon on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Clashes between Hezbollah and Israel escalated as the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq reportedly continued drone attacks in the Golan Heights, according to Iranian state media.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese village of Khiam this morning
Israeli army tanks drive in an area near Israel's southern border with Gaza on October 6
Lebanese firemen, first responders examine the aftermath of strikes in Beirut on Friday
Hezbollah, which has lost its leader and a long list of key commanders to Israeli strikes since the start of the war in Lebanon, today said it struck an army base with missiles to the south of the city of Haifa.
A statement said Israeli soldiers were targeted with missiles at the al-Jardah base early this morning.
Hezbollah also claimed to have hit a position in Mi'ilya today, detonating a drone over an Israeli bulldozer as it tried to leave Ramya base, per the Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency.
Za'rit military base and Houma in the Golan Heights were also said to have been targeted today. Casualties were not reported.
Many cities around Israel were quiet with markets closed, flights stopped and public transport halted as observant Jews fasted and prayed on the Day of Atonement as missiles struck bases int he north.
Troops remained engaged in combat on the northern and southern frontiers amid a firestorm of criticism over the wounding of four UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.
On Friday, the IDF said its troops were responsible for a strike near a watchtower that injured two Sri Lankan peacekeepers, as blasts shook the UNIFIL main base for the second time in two days.
The military said Israeli soldiers had responded with fire to 'an immediate threat' around 50 metres from the UNIFIL post.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed the UN peacekeepers had been 'deliberately targeted'.
UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the firing as 'intolerable' and 'a violation of international humanitarian law,' while the British government said it was 'appalled'.
US President Joe Biden said Friday he was 'absolutely' asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers.
The Israeli military pledged to carry out a 'thorough review'.
It came two days after Israeli troops fired at two Indonesian soldiers from a tank on Thursday - confirmed by the IDF.
Both were injured after falling from a watchtower following Israeli tank fire. Israel said Hezbollah fighters operated from areas near UNIFIL posts.
Andrea Tenenti, a spokesperson for UNIFIL, told Sky News his peacekeepers had been attacked four times within 48 hours.
The burgeoning war in Lebanon has killed more than 1,200 people since September 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
Some 2.1 million people have already been displaced by the war, with the ailing Lebanese government ill-positioned to provide hardy shelter or food for the civilian population caught in the middle.
More than 250,000 people chose to flee to war-torn Syria as bombing rocked residential areas across Lebanon.
Lebanon has long been home to many thousands displaced by the Syrian Civil War, now without homes left to go back to.
Smoke rises during Israeli strikes on villages overlooking Tyre on October 11
A man stands in a damaged apartment in Beirut, Lebanon on Friday
Kamal Khatib, a volunteer with the Animals Lebanon rescue group, kisses kittens after rescuing them from debris of destroyed buildings at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike
UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, southern Lebanon October 11
Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut on October 6
An Israeli soldier aboard an armoured vehicle mans a machine gun as they make their way to the northern Gaza Strip on October 6
Israel warned residents of south Lebanon 'not to return' home as troops continued fighting Hezbollah militants in the area this morning.
Israeli forces continue to 'target Hezbollah posts in or near your villages', military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
'For your own protection, do not return to your homes until further notice. Do not go south; anyone who goes south may put his life at risk.'
To Israel's west, fighting continued in Gaza, with an Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp killing 22 people.
Thousands of people remain trapped as the IDF issues evacuation orders for residents to flee towards the south.
'The bombardment has not stopped. Every minute there are shells, rockets and fire on the buildings and everything that moves', Areej Nasr, 35, told AFP after fleeing from Jabalia camp to Gaza City on Thursday.
On Friday, Gaza's civil defence agency reported 30 people killed in Israeli strikes in the area, including on schools being used as shelter by displaced people.
Israel has been pressing into Jabalia in a renewed push for a week in a bid, it says, to stop Hamas from regrouping.
Medicine Sans Frontiers warns this has left thousands of civilians unable to escape.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported today that at least 42,175 people have been killed in the war to date.
After the Yom Kippur holiday, attention in Israel is likely to turn again to the expected retaliation against Iran, which launched around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed this week that his country's response would be 'deadly, precise and surprising' with Biden's administration pushing for a 'proportionate' response that would not tip the region into a wider war.
Biden has urged Israel to avoid striking Iranian nuclear facilities or energy infrastructure.
Iran-funded Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
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