Hezbollah says Israeli attacks on Lebanon civilians to be 'reciprocated'

Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement on Monday vowed any Israeli attacks on civilians "will be reciprocated", after an Israeli strike hit a building opposite a funeral procession for one of the group's fighters.

The frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen regular exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since Israel's war on Gaza began on October 7.

The Iran-backed group on Monday evening said they launched a "salvo of rockets" at the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona "in response to the enemy's targeting of the funeral in Aita al-Shaab", a Lebanese border town.

"Any harm to civilians will be reciprocated," the group added in a statement.

Lebanon's official National News Agency had earlier reported that Israel "targeted people who were participating in the funeral procession" of Hezbollah fighter Hassan Srur in Aita al-Shaab.

The strike hit a building less than 40 metres (130 feet) from the procession, causing damage but no casualties, the agency said, adding that "the Israeli enemy was trying to intimidate hundreds" of mourners, who nonetheless continued with the ceremony.

An AFP correspondent who later arrived at the scene said the strike hit the top of an uninhabited building.

Not long after, artillery shells also fell near the funeral procession for another Hezbollah fighter in Beit Lif, a few kilometres further north, the correspondent said.

Shortly after the strikes, Hezbollah said it had fired artillery at two launchpads from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system.

The Gaza war has so far called 19,450 in Gaza, including almost 8000 children.

It has also raised fears of a regional conflagration.

More than 130 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also a Lebanese soldier and 17 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP tally.