TEHRAN – As Hezbollah targets more Israeli occupation forces (IOF), the Zionist regime has escalated airstrikes that have killed dozens of Lebanese civilians.

A Hezbollah drone injured at least 12 IOF soldiers in a northern Israeli settlement after it struck a military vehicle, the regime’s military said, highlighting the growing threat of fiber-optic-guided drones.

The drone struck the settlement of Shomera, the IOF said. The regime’s media reported that it set at least one IOF military vehicle ablaze.

An image released by the Zionist regime’s Fire and Rescue Service shows a military vehicle engulfed in flames, with thick black smoke rising into the sky.

In another operation, Hezbollah injured two IOF soldiers with another explosive fiber-optic-guided attack in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.  

The IOF also announced that a soldier from the Golani Brigade was killed in combat in southern Lebanon. Citing the IOF, Israeli media said the soldier died when Hezbollah launched several explosive-laden drones at IOF troop positions in the southern Lebanese village of Qantara. The regime’s media, operating under strict military censorship, reported that another soldier sustained injuries in the same attack.

They also quoted a spokesperson for the IOF as saying that one of its drones was shot down in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah launched a surface-to-air missile.

Hezbollah continues its operations in defense of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the Zionist regime’s ongoing violations of the ceasefire since April 17.

In response to repeated breaches of Lebanese airspace, Hezbollah announced in a statement that resistance fighters shot down an IOF drone. The Resistance identified the drone as a Hermes 450 Zik and said it was brought down over the city of Nabatieh using a surface-to-air missile.

As part of its response to IOF attacks on villages and the demolition of homes in southern Lebanon, the resistance fighters also targeted a 155mm self-propelled artillery gun south of Yarin town with a loitering drone, achieving a confirmed hit.

Also, in response to the attacks on villages and the demolition of homes in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah announced that it targeted two IOF Merkava tanks in Bint Jbeil and two IOF Merkava tanks in Al-Qantara town with loitering drones, achieving confirmed hits.

A gathering of the IOF in the vicinity of the Musa Abbas complex in the town of Bint Jbeil was also attacked by Hezbollah resistance fighters with artillery shells.

Hezbollah also announced in separate statements that in response to the attacks on villages in southern Lebanon, which resulted in the martyrdom and injury of civilians, resistance fighters targeted gatherings of IOF soldiers at the newly established Blat site in southern Lebanon, the towns of Shamaa, Al-Qantara, Al-Taybeh, and Al-Bayyada and Meiss Al-Jabal with a swarm of loitering drones, achieving confirmed hits.

An IOF Humvee vehicle in Al-Bayyada town, southern Lebanon, was also destroyed by Hezbollah with a loitering drone. The regime’s media said the attack also set fire to the surrounding area.

Since the announcement of the ceasefire, analysis by the Zionist regime’s media has focused on Hezbollah’s use of explosive drones operated via fiber-optic guidance systems. The Israeli Army Radio acknowledged a failure to adequately prepare on the Lebanese front, stating that early warnings about these fiber-optic-guided explosive drones were not acted upon.

It added that the solutions the IOF has begun implementing to counter these drones came too late, emphasizing that measures to confront such loitering or attack drones remain limited.

Meanwhile, the IOF continues to target southern Lebanese villages and towns, preventing residents from returning, in addition to demolishing homes and buildings and carrying out deadly attacks against civilians.

At least 32 people were killed in attacks by the IOF jets and drones across southern and eastern Lebanon on Thursday, including children and women, the National News Agency reported. Outrage is growing over the continued Israeli aggression at a time when a ceasefire is supposed to be in place.

An IOF air raid killed a Lebanese soldier and several members of his family after directly targeting their home in the town of Kfar Rumman in the Nabatieh district. The Lebanese Army officially confirmed the deaths, stating that the deadly attack resulted from a direct strike on a residential property.

On Friday, an IOF airstrike in southern Lebanon also killed two people and wounded ten others.

Hezbollah has declared that it is committed to defending its land and its people, especially in light of the Zionist regime’s transgressions of all limits through its aggression. This is the minimum duty to deter it and prevent it from persisting in its dangerous objectives against Lebanon, its state, its people, and its resistance, Hezbollah added.