Israel says 'no incidents' on Lebanon front as Hezbollah announces no attacks Thursday

The Israeli army announced Friday that its northern front with Lebanon and Syria did not witness any incidents overnight, following a relatively calm day on Thursday.

The Israeli military had announced Thursday evening that one of its drones had struck a cell that was “trying to fire anti-tank missiles from Lebanon at an Israeli military post.” For the first day since October 7, Hezbollah did not announce any attacks on Israeli military posts on Thursday. It however announced that three more of its fighters have been killed, without specifying when they were targeted.

Lebanon’s National News Agency meanwhile reported that Israeli forces shelled the Lebanese border towns of Dhayra, Alma al-Shaab, Naqoura and Aita al-Shaab at 1am, followed by the firing of phosphorus bombs at forests along the Blue Line, setting ablaze trees whose flames had been extinguished by firefighters earlier in the day.

Al-Manar television said Civil Defense member Hussein Sati was injured in a landmine blast as he was combating the flames sparked by incendiary Israeli bombs in al-Labbouneh’s forests.

Israeli warplanes also targeted the al-Labbouneh area in Naqoura overnight, triggering blazes in its forests, NNA added.

The Israeli army also fired flares over Aita al-Shaab and machine-gunned the area around its al-Raheb post as Israeli drones overflew the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts until Friday morning.

Since Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, Lebanon's southern border has seen tit-for-tat exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally. Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants as well as Lebanon’s Jamaa Islamiya group also fired missiles at northern Israel from Lebanon.

In recent weeks, Lebanon's official National News Agency and Lebanese paramedics have reported fires and injuries due to white phosphorus, while Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using the incendiary weapon in its war against Hamas militants in Gaza, and in southern Lebanon.

Exchanges of fire across the Lebanon-Israel border have so far killed around 60 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah combatants but also four civilians, including Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah.

Four people have been killed on the Israeli side, including one civilian, according to Israeli authorities and reports.