Two Israel Defence Forces soldiers were injured in the Golan Heights after an explosive-laden drone was sent by Hezbollah into Israeli airspace on Saturday, the military said.

According to the IDF, over 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon at Israel in one day, with Israeli interceptor missiles being launched to pacify most of them. At least one drone got through Israel’s air defence system, setting off sirens in the country’s north and resulting in one soldier being injured moderately and another lightly.

The Israeli army said some 30 rockets crossed into the Golan Heights from Lebanon, and 10 rockets were launched at the Galilee region over the course of the day.

The barrage of 30 rockets, launched just after 3:30pm at the community of Dafna in the northern Golan Heights, were in response to an Israeli attack on the southern village of Borj al-Mlouk earlier in the day, Hezbollah said. It is the first time the group has targeted the area.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Syrian nationals, including children, had been injured in the strike on a vehicle.

A destroyed vehicle sits amid debris in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike, July 19, 2024 (Credit: MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas’s Lebanese branch took credit for the other 10 rockets, fired at Western Galilee close to 4pm. No injuries were reported but the rockets sparked several blazes which had to be controlled. Hamas said in a statement that it had fired at an Israeli military position in the Upper Galilee “in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

The IDF said its fighter jets struck several locations and buildings used by Hezbollah in the southern Lebanon town of Houla on Saturday morning. Rocket launcher sites were also targeted in Lebanon’s Deir Seryan and Aitaroun regions.

Since October 8, one day after the Hamas massacre against Israel, Hezbollah-led forces have repeatedly attacked Israeli communities and military posts in the country’s north, allegedly in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.

The skirmishes with Hezbollah have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side and 18 IDF soldiers and reservists being killed. Hezbollah has named 370 members to have died fighting Israel since then, mostly in Lebanon but also in Syria.