Israeli troops forced to retreat: Hezbollah

Hezbollah claims it confronted Israeli forces “infiltrating” the Lebanese town of Odaisseh early this morning, and forced them to retreat.

Hezbollah operatives confronted “an Israeli enemy infantry force that tried to infiltrate into the village of Odaisseh… and clashed with them,” a statement says, adding separately that Hezbollah also targeted three different points across the border with rockets and artillery.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF. The Israeli military revealed yesterday that it had conducted dozens of cross-border raids into Hezbollah in recent months and did not have any direct clashes with Hezbollah operatives.

However, it marked the first direct clash between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces since Israel launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

Since September 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,073 people and injuring over 2,950 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The top leadership of Hezbollah was killed in the Israeli assaults, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,600 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

(With inputs from agencies)