Tel Aviv, 1 July 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The Israeli army reported on Sunday evening that 18 of its soldiers were injured in a drone attack launched by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.

The Israeli army said one of the soldiers had been taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The Israeli Air Force responded to the drone attack by attacking Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, it said.

The army added that a launch ramp from which a projectile had been fired into the northern Golan Heights was also bombed and that the Israeli artillery "eliminated threats" in several areas of southern Lebanon.

The information could not be independently verified.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war in October, Israel has been engaged in daily exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in the border area with Lebanon.

The militia has declared that Israel must completely end the war in Gaza against its ally, the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, before it stops firing on Israel.

The fighting has recently intensified considerably.

There are fears that a possible open war between Israel and Lebanon could escalate into a regional conflict that would also involve Iran and the United States.