Things are getting hot in the Holy Land.

Israel says its warplanes have struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after detecting moves to launch an aerial attack on Israel.

 

The Israeli military said around 100 fighter jets had destroyed “thousands” of rocket launchers on Sunday morning, in what it described as an act of “self-defence”. Lebanon’s health ministry reported that three people had been killed.

 

Hezbollah later said it had fired hundreds of rockets towards northern Israel, calling it “phase one” of a multi-stage attack in retaliation for the killing of a senior commander. No casualties have been reported in Israel.

 

The exchange marks a major escalation of tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed Shia Muslim armed group.