Israeli jets continued their heaviest bombardment of southern Lebanon in over a year of hostilities late Thursday, further inflaming tensions between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Britain urged an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, while the White House declared that a diplomatic solution was both feasible and urgent.
Israel’s military said that its jets targeted hundreds of multiple rocket-launcher barrels in southern Lebanon over the course of two hours during the late operation on Thursday.
Each rocket launcher has a multi-barreled weapon that can fire unguided rockets.
Between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time, Israel conducted at least 52 strikes in the southern region of Lebanon, according to the state-run National News Agency of Lebanon.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah group said earlier on Thursday that it had conducted at least 17 attacks on military sites in northern Israel.