Clashes have erupted along the Lebanon-Israel border, leaving five Hezbollah fighters dead.
It is the largest number of casualties for the militant group in a single day as tensions with Israel escalate.
Israeli forces and armed groups in Lebanon have engaged in a series of low-level skirmishes since the outbreak of the latest war in Gaza between the Israeli military and the Hamas militant group.
Hezbollah has announced the death of 10 militants since skirmishes began.
The escalation comes amid fears that the war could spread into Lebanon, where Hezbollah has expressed strong support for the militant Palestinian group.
Israel considers the heavily armed group in Lebanon as its biggest threat. The group has said a ground incursion into the blockaded Gaza Strip would lead to an escalation.
So far, artillery exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel have been limited to several towns along the border.
Israel has threatened that if Hezbollah opens a new front, all of Lebanon will suffer the consequences.
Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006. Since then, apart from limited clashes and escalated rhetoric, Hezbollah’s military calibre has significantly increased, and became a key military actor in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the region.
The international community has scrambled to keep the war from extending into Lebanon, and possibly the rest of the region.
An anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon landed in the town of Metula in northern Israel on Tuesday, wounding three people, according to the Ziv Medical Centre in Safed.
Hours later, Hezbollah issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack. It was not clear if the injured were civilians or soldiers, but Israel has ordered civilians to evacuate the area near the border with Lebanon.
Israel responded by striking several areas along the border in southern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency in Lebanon reported. The Israeli military said its tanks fired back into Lebanon after an anti-tank missile was launched across the border.
Two more anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon at the Yiftah kibbutz in northern Israel without any casualties, the Israeli army said, adding that it had shelled Hezbollah positions in response.
In separate violence earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it killed four militants who had attempted to plant explosive devices on a border wall between Israel and Lebanon. A video from an Israeli army reconnaissance drone showed the militants near the separation wall as they were targeted, causing an explosion.
Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for the attempted cross border attack, nor did any other armed group. However, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants based in Lebanon had done so on previous occasions over the past week.
Last week, militants from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in southern Lebanon crossed the border and clashed with Israeli troops, killing three and wounding several others. The militants were killed.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakkan Fidan, who arrived in Beirut on Tuesday, told reporters after meeting with his Lebanese counterpart that the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas “might lead to greater wars.”
“We are doing all we can so that the war does not spread to other countries,” he said.
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