Hezbollah reported on Wednesday that its fighters have successfully repelled Israeli troops advancing along Lebanon’s southern border. This development comes a day after Israel claimed responsibility for killing two high-ranking Hezbollah leaders, successors to the group’s assassinated leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

For over a year, Hezbollah has been launching rockets at Israel in parallel with the Gaza war. Recent clashes have spread along Lebanon’s mountainous frontier, with Hezbollah engaging Israeli forces in ground battles. The group claimed to have fired several rocket salvos at Israeli troops near Labbouneh, a village on the western part of the border, pushing them back. Hezbollah also reported attacking Israeli forces in Maroun el-Ras and firing missile barrages at advancing Israeli troops near the villages of Mays al-Jabal and Mouhaybib.

Israel’s military stated that about 40 rockets were fired at Haifa, one of Israel’s major port cities, with some intercepted and others causing damage. In Kiryat Shmona, two people were killed in the strikes, and six others were wounded in Haifa. Meanwhile, Israeli forces launched airstrikes across Lebanon, including in the town of Wardaniyeh, north of Sidon, where four people were killed.