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Hezbollah says it detonates 'explosive devices' targeting soldiers crossing the border into Lebanon.
Several Israeli soldiers have been wounded in an explosion in Lebanon near the Israeli border, according to the Israeli military and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
Iran-backed Hezbollah said on Monday it had detonated an “explosive device” targeting Israeli troops crossing into Lebanese territory.
In a statement, the group said its fighters had planted explosive devices in the Tel Ismail area of southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel.
It said its fighters detonated the devices when a patrol of Israeli soldiers crossed into Lebanon and approached the area where the devices were planted. The group said the explosions caused “deaths and injuries”, although it provided no evidence.
An Israeli military official told Reuters news agency that four Israeli soldiers were wounded in the overnight blast, which occurred hundreds of meters inside Lebanese territory.
“We confirm that the incident occurred inside Lebanon,” an Israeli military spokesman told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
This is the first time that Hezbollah has claimed such an attack in the six months of daily cross-border firing between Hezbollah and Israel since the Gaza war began.
Reporting from Naqoura in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera's Ali Hashem said the attack was “a sign that the situation here is very sensitive”.
“This is not the first time that a bomb or a roadside bomb is being detonated… but this time (the blast) was really loud,” he said.
The incident comes amid rising tensions after Iran launched missile and drone strikes against Israel on Saturday in response to the deadly attack on Tehran's consulate in Damascus earlier this month.
The violence between Israel and Hezbollah has been largely restricted to the border space.
Since October 8, when Hezbollah started assaults on Israel in solidarity with Palestinians within the Gaza Strip, Israel has attacked practically 4,000 occasions alongside the 120 km (75-mile) border.
Israeli strikes have killed not less than 295 fighters from Hezbollah and different armed teams in Lebanon over the previous six months, in addition to about 73 civilians, together with kids, docs and journalists.
Based on the Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM), greater than 90,000 individuals have been displaced by preventing in southern Lebanon.
On the Israeli facet, residents of 28 cities and villages inside 2 km (1.2 mi) of the border had been informed to evacuate.
Hezbollah says its navy marketing campaign towards Israel will proceed till Israeli assaults on Gaza cease.