Hezbollah says it launched drones at military base west of Israel's Tiberias
BEIRUT (Reuters) -Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack at a military base west of Israel's Tiberias on Wednesday, in the deepest strike into Israeli territory since the Lebanese armed group began exchanging fire with Israel in parallel with the Gaza war.
Hezbollah said it was targeting part of a surveillance system used by the Israeli air force, and that the swarm of attack drones "hit its limited targets accurately and accomplished what it wanted in this limited operation."
The Israeli military had no immediate comment, though it did sound air-raid sirens in a village west of Tiberias earlier on Wednesday.
Israeli media said a drone exploded near a major nearby traffic junction, causing damage but no casualties. According to Israel's public broadcaster Kan, authorities warned locals that another drone could be circling overheard, ahead of impact.
The attack came a day after an Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah field commander, Hussein Mekki, in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said Mekki was responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians and territory since the start of the Gaza war in October.
Hezbollah said on Wednesday that its drone attack was in response to "assassinations" carried out by Israel, but did not specify that it was in retaliation for Mekki's killing.
More than 260 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon over the last seven months.
In April, Hezbollah said it had struck Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre with drones, which was at the time the deepest its attacks had reached.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; additional reporting by Jaidaa Taha Editing by Chris Reese, William Maclean and Josie Kao)
