and traded attacks again on Sunday, with the Iran-backed militia firing more that 100 rockets early in the day across northern Israel and Israel launching hundreds of strikes on Lebanon.
Some of the Hezbollah rockets hit the port city of Haifa, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Lebanese border.
Hezbollah’s attacks came after more than 35 people, including three children, were reported by Lebanon to have been killed in .
Israel confirmed the attack and said a top Hezbollah commander and several other members were among the dead.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Kassim, spoke on Sunday a “new phase.”
“We will now determine how to respond to the aggression, and we have entered a new phase with the Israeli army called the ‘Battle of the Open Account,’” Kassem said.
The escalating hostilities have displaced thousands in the Israel-Lebanon border area and raised fears of a wider Middle East war.
“The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah must not become a regional conflagration,” German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin on Saturday.
“This would have terrible and long-term consequences for people throughout the region. The destruction from such a confrontation would be catastrophic,” Hebestreit said.
tj/wmr (AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa)
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