Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah has said it fired "large numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles" at Israeli positions in a contested border area, as war raged between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The assault was "in solidarity" with a large-scale air, sea and land attack launched yesterday by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, the group said, which killed hundreds on both sides.
In a statement, the Lebanese Shia movement said it attacked three "enemy" positions with large numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles.
Lebanese residents near the border area said they had heard a dozen rockets being fired towards Israel in the morning.
An AFP photographer reported that Israeli surveillance drones flew over the border region.
The Israeli army said earlier this morning that it fired artillery on southern Lebanon in response to a shot from the area.
"Israeli artillery is in the process of striking the area of Lebanon from which a shot was fired," the army said in a statement, without giving further details.
Later on this morning, "two (more) rockets were fired from the Lebanese side towards enemy positions in the Shebaa farms" prompting Israel to retaliate with a new barrage of artillery, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Israel warned Hezbollah against being involved in the fighting.
"We recommend Hezbollah not to come into this. If they come we are ready," army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, urged restraint.
"We are in contact with authorities on both sides... to contain the situation and avoid a more serious escalation," it said in a statement.
There are 13 points of dispute along the so-called Blue Line, the frontier demarcated by the UN in 2000 after Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon.
In 2006 Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war that left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers. The two countries remain technically at war.
Hezbollah yesterday praised Hamas for its "heroic operation" and said its leadership was following the developments and "in direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance at home and abroad".
