Hezbollah said it had detonated an “explosive device” targeting soldiers who had crossed the border into Lebanon.
Several Israeli soldiers were injured in an explosion in Lebanon near the Israeli border, with the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah claiming responsibility.
Iran-backed Hezbollah said on Monday it had detonated an “explosive device” targeting Israeli soldiers who had crossed into Lebanese territory.
The group said in a statement that its fighters planted explosives in the Tel Ismail area in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel.
An Israeli military patrol crossed into Lebanon and said a fighter jet had detonated the device when it arrived in the area where the device was installed. The group said the explosion caused “casualties”, although no evidence was provided.
An Israeli military official told Reuters that four Israeli soldiers were injured in an overnight explosion a few hundred meters inside Lebanese territory.
“We can confirm that the incident took place inside Lebanon,” an Israeli military spokesperson told Agence France-Presse.
It is the first time Hezbollah has claimed such an attack in more than six months, when cross-border shooting has taken place almost daily between Hezbollah and Israel since the start of Israel's war in Gaza.
Al Jazeera's Ali Hashem, reporting from Naqoura in southern Lebanon, said the attack was “a sign of the extreme sensitivity of the situation here.”
“This is not the first time that bombs and roadside bombs go off…but this time [the blast] It was really strong,” he said.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions after Iran launched missile and drone attacks against Israel on Saturday in retaliation for a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus earlier this month.
The escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah has largely been contained to the border area.
Since October 8, when Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel in what it called solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Israel has attacked the country nearly 4,000 times along its 120 km (75 miles) border.
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 295 Hezbollah and other militants in Lebanon over the past six months, and around 73 civilians, including children, doctors and journalists.
More than 90,000 people have been displaced by fighting in southern Lebanon, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
On the Israeli side, residents of 28 towns and villages within 2 kilometers of the border were ordered to evacuate.
Hezbollah says its military operations against Israel will continue until Israel stops attacking Gaza.
