Hezbollah has said it launched rockets at northern Israel "in response" to a deadly Israeli strike in south Lebanon - the group's first attack after Israel killed a top commander earlier this week.
The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it "launched dozens of Katyusha rockets... in response to the Israeli enemy's attack on... (the southern village of Shama) that killed a number of civilians".
The Israeli military said that shortly after the rocket fire, the air force "struck the Hezbollah launcher from which the projectiles were launched".
Earlier, the Lebanese health ministry said four Syrians were killed in an Israeli strike on the south, where Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire since the Gaza war began in October.
"The health ministry announces... four Syrian nationals were martyred" in an "Israeli strike" on the southern village of Shama, it said in a statement.
The ministry said the toll might rise once DNA tests had been carried out.
The strike also wounded five Lebanese nationals, it added.
Emergency services said that the dead were farmer workers and part of the same family.
Plumes of smoke billowed from the site of the strike, which heavily damaged two nearby buildings and burnt a vehicle to a crisp.
The attack was Hezbollah's first since an Israeli air strike killed its top commander Fuad Shukr on Tuesday evening, with leader Hassan Nasrallah saying operations would resume tomorrow morning.
Mr Nasrallah warned his group was bound to respond to the killing of Shukr.
His death was followed hours later yesterday, by the killing of Hezbollah ally Hamas's chief Ismail Haniyeh in a strike in Tehran, which Iran and Hamas have blamed on Israel.
Hamas called for a "day of furious rage", coinciding with the burial of Mr Haniyeh in Qatar tomorrow.
Hamas, in a statement, encouraged an outpouring of public anger following Mr Haniyeh's killing in Tehran in an attack blamed on Israel, as well as to protest the ongoing war in Gaza.
"Let roaring anger marches start from every mosque" following Friday prayers, the group said.
The Hamas statement came as the Israeli military announced that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif had been killed in a strike it carried out last month in Gaza's southern area of Khan Younis.
The military's confirmation it had killed Deif comes a day after the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which was announced by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hamas.
"The IDF (Israeli army) announces that on July 13th, 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis, and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike," a military statement said.
"Deif initiated, planned, and executed the October 7th massacre," the military said of the Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the death of 1,197 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said at the time of the 13 July strike that it killed more than 90 people but Hamas denied Deif was among them.
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Hamas leader Deif masterminded October 7 attack on Israel
Calls for revenge at Iran funeral for Hamas chief Haniyeh
The suspected 900kg bomb around the house where Deif was said to have taken refuge with one of his deputies had left a giant crater.
The head of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, Deif had been among Israel's most wanted man for nearly three decades and on a US list of "international terrorists" since 2015.
The military said Deif had over the years carried out several attacks against Israel.
Deif operated along with Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, the military said.
"During the war, he commanded Hamas's terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip by issuing commands and instructions to senior members of Hamas's military wing," it added.
During the Hamas attack militants also seized 251 people, 111 are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign since then has killed 39,480 people, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.
'Far more difficult to arrive at a ceasefire' - Tánaiste
Speaking at a meeting with acting French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said what has happened in the last 48 hours, in particular, makes it far more difficult to arrive at a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
He said: "The people of Gaza and the people of Israel, and in the Middle East more generally, deserve peace. And the only way you can have peace is through political situation… through proper planning."
Mr Martin said he discussed with Mr Séjourné the need to increase the capacity of the Palestinian Authority to administer both the West Bank and Gaza.
"There has to be a day after this war, this war has to stop," he said.
