No Israelis were wounded in a Hezbollah missile strike on IDF vehicles and an IDF outpost near Avivim on the northern border Sunday afternoon, the IDF reported Sunday evening.
"Hezbollah executed the attack ... however [it] failed to cause casualties," an IDF spokesperson said.
"The tactical event on the ground ... appears to be behind us, however the strategic situation is still on, and the IDF maintains an elevated level of readiness, the spokesperson added.
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Hezbollah took responsibility for anti-tank missiles that were fired from inside Lebanon, and claimed that the missiles hit IDF vehicles. In a press release, Hezbollah said it fired the missiles in retaliation for a drone strike early last week in which two of its operatives were killed in the town of Aqraba.
The IDF reported a "number of hits" by anti-tank missiles fired at an army base and military vehicles near the Lebanese border in northern Israel. It said it was responding with fire toward "the sources of fire and targets in southern Lebanon."
Channel 12 quoted Lebanese media reports that the Israeli Air Force was carrying out strikes in Lebanese villages in response to the missiles fired at Israeli forces. Channel 12 also reported that IDF artillery and armored units had carried out over 30 strikes in retaliation for the missile strike on IDF forces.
Residents of northern Israel living within 4 km (2.5 miles) of the border were ordered to stay indoors and open bomb shelters, although no instructions were issued to actually take cover.
Israeli cabinet ministers have been ordered not to speak to the media about events on the northern border.
The missle launch from Lebanon came after Israeli military activity in the Mount Dov caused several fires in southern Lebanon. The IDF confirmed the fires after Lebanese media reported that there was artillery shelling in the area.
The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar television station also accused Israel of using drones to drop incendiary material in a pine forest near the border and published an image of the flammable material it alleges were dropped.
An IDF spokesperson said that the fire near the Lebanese border had "orginated with operations by our [Israeli] forces in the area," without elaborating.
The Mount Dov area, also known as Shebaa Farms, used to belong to Syria until the 1967 Six-Day War, when it came under Israeli control. Nevertheless, Hezbollah claims it is Lebanese territory. It is unclear what prompted the incident on Sunday and whether the shells hit Lebanese territory or only the area currently under Israeli control.
The incident comes after the IDF decided on Saturday to deploy additional forces to northern Israel and move artillery equipment closer to the border with Lebanon.
