Hezbollah launched a drone attack on Israel on Sunday morning in retaliation for the killing of one of its commanders in Beirut.
The Lebanese militant group launched the attack early on Sunday morning, shortly after Israel launched pre-emptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah said the attack was targeting "a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later". It also said the drone attack is "targeting a number of enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome platforms."
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It said the strikes were an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, a top commander with the group, in a strike in Beirut's southern suburbs last month. The Israeli military earlier announced its own strikes on Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, saying the militant group was preparing an attack on Israel.
Israel launched airstrikes on Lebanon and accused Hezbollah of "preparing to file missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory" early on Sunday morning.
Israeli military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said: "In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the (Israeli military) is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians.
Hagari warned Hezbollah would "soon fire rockets, and possibly missiles and drones" into Israel.
Warning sirens rang in northern Israel soon and Lebanese media reported strikes in the country's south.
Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv began diverting incoming flights and delaying others due to takeoff Sunday after the Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.
Hagari said: "We can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians. We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm's way immediately for their own safety," he said.
Fears have been high in recent weeks that the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip could escalate into a regional conflict after an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah commander and a suspected Israeli assassination operation in Iran killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
In the US, a spokesman for the National Security Council, Sean Savett, said President Joe Biden was "closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon. He said: "At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts.
"We will keep supporting Israel's right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability."
The United States and Israel estimate Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and is capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the start of the war in Gaza triggered by Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly daily. Sunday's attacks came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel's war with Hamas. Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.