Israel carries out 'extensive' strikes in Hezbollah areas
· RTE.ieThe Israeli military said it was carrying out "extensive" air strikes in south Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley after Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile that reached the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
The death toll from the latest day of strikes on Lebanon has reached 22, according to a tally of health ministry statements.
The strikes came after the Israeli military said a single surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by air defence systems after it was detected crossing from Lebanon.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said he could not confirm what Hezbollah's target was when it fired the missile from a village in Lebanon.
"The result was a heavy missile, going towards Tel Aviv, towards civilian areas in Tel Aviv. The Mossad headquarters is not in that area," he said.
Warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, Israel's economic capital, but there were no reports of damage or casualties. Sirens also sounded in other areas of central Israel, including the city of Netanya.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement it had fired a missile targeting the Mossad headquarters in a Tel Aviv suburb "in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip... and in defence of Lebanon and its people".
It blamed Mossad for the recent assassination of its leaders.
It has also accused the spy agency of carrying out an extraordinary operation last week in which the communications devices of its members were booby-trapped and exploded, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000 in the worst security breach in its history.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
The Israeli military has been mounting its heaviest airstrikes in a year of conflict this week, targeting Hezbollah leaders and hitting hundreds of sites deep inside Lebanon while Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets into Israel.
There was no let-up. Israel said its warplanes were currently carrying out extensive strikes in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
Three people were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli strike on the Lebanese Shia town of Maaysrah in the Christian-majority Keserwan region, Lebanon's health ministry said. It was the first time the area has been struck in the recent hostilities.
Israel has expanded the zones it has been striking since yesterday, with attacks for the first time on the beach resort town of Jiyyeh just south of Beirut and Maaysrah.
Israeli authorities said the Galilee region of northern Israel was hit by heavy Hezbollah barrages this morning.
In one salvo, about 40 rockets were fired. Some were intercepted in mid-air, others struck open areas or penetrated air defences into populated areas, they said.
In the Israeli town of Safed, an assisted living facility was hit, but no injuries were reported, the authorities said.
Near-daily exchanges of fire in the Israel-Lebanon border area started after war broke out last October between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza on Israel's southern border, with Hezbollah saying it was acting in solidarity with its ally Hamas.
Israel's focus has now turned to its northern frontier and southern Lebanon.
Since Monday morning, the Israeli offensive has killed 569 people, including 50 children, and wounded 1,835 in Lebanon, Health Minister Firass Abiad told Al Jazeera Mubasher TV.
Half a million people are estimated to have been displaced in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said.
In Beirut, thousands of people who fled from southern Lebanon were sheltering in schools and other buildings.
Range of options
Also today, the Israeli military said a drone crossing into Israeli territory from Syria was intercepted by fighter jets south of the Sea of Galilee.
The Islamic Resistance armed groups in Iraq said in a statement they had attacked a target in the occupied Golan Heights via a drone.
Israel military leaders have said they are prepared for a range of options as it battles Hezbollah, a more sophisticated, disciplined and experienced enemy than Hamas, which was created by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards to counter an Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
But Hezbollah has proven resilient over its decades-long hostilities with Israel, recovering from heavy blows and defying superior firepower. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that killing important Hezbollah figures would not bring it to its knees.
Israeli troops have been training for months for a possible ground operation inside Lebanon aimed at securing its northern border and enabling thousands of Israeli residents who fled for their safety to return to their communities, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government's top war priorities.
Israel's close ally, the United States is sticking by it despite its concerns about mass civilian casualties. While Arab states have condemned Israel's military campaigns, they have not taken strong steps to force it to rein in the most powerful military in the Middle East.
Yesterday, a strike in Beirut killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi, who headed the group's missile and rocket force.
Lebanon 'at the brink'
The UN Security Council said it would meet today to discuss the conflict, which was intensifying across the region.
"Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon - the people of Israel - and the people of the world, cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the attacks had weakened Hezbollah and would continue.
Hezbollah "has suffered a sequence of blows to its command and control, its fighters, and the means to fight. These are all severe blows," he told Israeli troops.
Former Lebanese general says Hezbollah not finished
A former brigadier general in the Lebanese army rubbished Israeli claims that it is successfully targeting and hitting Hezbollah military capabilities in Lebanon.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Hisham Jaber, who is now a security analyst at the Middle East Centre for Studies and Research, said Israel is failing to neutralise Hezbollah.
He said the Israeli military has been shelling most of Lebanon by aircraft, adding that Hezbollah has not yet used its military potential.
He said Hezbollah does not want to be responsible for "opening up" a regional war.
Mr Jaber also said it is not true that Israel has targeted Hezbollah in its attacks, noting that Hezbollah has been able to continue to launch hundreds of missiles toward Israel.
He added that Hezbollah will not surrender and that a land offensive by Israel is unlikely because it is not palatable for the United States.
Additional reporting Cian McCormack