JERUSALEM/BEIRUT/BAGHDAD - Israeli Air Force Commander Tomer Bar said on Thursday that the country's forces are "ready" for a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Attacking the enemy in its own territory -- that is the ultimate solution," Bar spoke at a pilot course graduation ceremony, claiming that Israel is "ready against Hezbollah".

"We have the means for it, we have the capabilities, and certainly, we have the patience and fighting spirit," he said.

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Bar's remarks echoed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's warning on Wednesday, who said during his visit to Washington that while the Israeli government prefers a diplomatic solution, the Israeli forces are capable of taking Lebanon "back to the Stone Age".

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that US officials had cautioned Israel that even a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon could spark a full-scale conflict involving Iran and its allies.  

Rockets, missiles from Lebanon hit North Israel

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army announced that it had killed a Hezbollah militant belonging to the Lebanese armed group's air forces, who had been deploying drones towards Israel.

The Israeli military also said on Thursday evening, about 35 rockets and missiles fired from Lebanon struck the city of Safed in northern Israel, causing fires, power cuts and property damage

Subsequently, two aircraft that transgressed from Lebanon into Israeli territory crashed in the vicinity of the Rosh Hanikra community near the border, according to the military, who noted that no injuries were reported.

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The Israeli military also said on Thursday evening, about 35 rockets and missiles fired from Lebanon struck the city of Safed in northern Israel, causing fires, power cuts and property damage.

"The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted most of the launches," the Israeli military said in a statement.

According to the country's Magen David Adom rescue service, no deaths or injuries were reported.

A house was struck by one of the projectiles, the Merom HaGalil Regional Council said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Fire and Rescue Authority reported that several fires erupted and civilians were stuck in elevators due to power outages.

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Meanwhile, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said in a statement that it had attacked the Israeli air base in Safed with Katyusha rockets, in response to the Israeli attacks on the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon and the town of Sohmor in eastern Lebanon a day earlier.

Lebanese military sources told Xinhua that some of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli Iron Dome missiles.

Lebanese military sources told Xinhua that a Hezbollah official was killed on Thursday in an Israeli air strike targeting his motorcycle in the Western Bekaa district in eastern Lebanon

In a separate statement, the IDF said Israeli warplanes, earlier in the day, struck a Hezbollah military structure in the southern Lebanese village of Ramyah and killed two Hezbollah operatives in the village of At Tiri.

On the same day, unnamed Lebanese military sources confirmed to Xinhua that three Hezbollah members were killed and a fourth was wounded in two Israeli airstrikes on Ramyah and Haddatha.

Meanwhile, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua that a Hezbollah official was killed on Thursday in an Israeli air strike targeting his motorcycle in the Western Bekaa district in eastern Lebanon.

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The sources said an Israeli drone targeted the motorcycle with an air-to-surface missile in the center of the town of Sohmor, killing its driver.

According to the sources, the driver, Ali Ahmed Alaa El-Din, served as a military official in Hezbollah, operating within the Department of Military Operations in Western Bekaa. He had also been involved in field military activities in the border region of southern Lebanon.

Tensions have been rising along the Lebanon-Israel border since Oct 8, 2023, following a rocket barrage launched by Hezbollah toward Israel to show its support for the surprise attack on southern Israel launched by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip the day before.

Shi’ite militia claims joint operation with Houthis

A Shi’ite militia in Iraq on Thursday claimed responsibility for launching joint missile attacks with Yemen's Houthi group on a site in the Haifa port in northern Israel.

The Shi’ite militia said the attacks were carried out "in solidarity with the people in the Gaza Strip," vowing to continue to target "the enemy's strongholds"

The militia, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said in an online statement that its fighters carried out a joint operation with the Houthi group by launching missile attacks on "a vital site in Haifa".

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It said the attacks were carried out "in solidarity with the people in the Gaza Strip," vowing to continue to target "the enemy's strongholds".

Earlier in the day, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea announced in a televised statement that the group had conducted "a joint operation with the Islamic Resistance in brotherly Iraq that targeted a vital target in Haifa with several cruise missiles," noting that "the operation achieved its goal successfully".

Since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct 7, 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has launched multiple attacks on Israeli targets and US bases in the region.