In the first engagement since the start of Israeli ground operations, the Lebanese army fired back at Israeli soldiers in an incident that may signal the escalation of the conflict.

It is the first time the Lebanese army has retaliated against Israeli forces since the conflict began a year ago, a Lebanese security source told Reuters.

The Lebanese army said on Thursday that a soldier was killed in an Israeli strike on a military outpost in southern Lebanon, adding that its soldiers returned fire.

Although this is a contained incident for now, the exchange of fire is a potentially dangerous development. The Lebanese Armed Forces, supported and funded by the US, are loyal to the Lebanese state, not Hezbollah, and do not actively engage in combat with the Israeli military. However, in recent days casualties have increased in the ranks of the army as a result of Israeli raids.

New raids in Beirut

Meanwhile, Israel launched three new airstrikes this afternoon on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after a night of heavy Israeli shelling, Lebanon’s national news agency reported.

Israeli warplanes struck Hezbollah’s Intelligence Headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut, destroying infrastructure and hitting key intelligence and command centers, the military said.

The IDF reported that IAF fighter jets, guided by intelligence from the Directorate of Military Intelligence, targeted Hezbollah sites involved in the group’s intelligence operations.

For its part, Hezbollah said it detonated an improvised explosive device against Israeli forces that infiltrated a village in southern Lebanon.

Israel is expanding its business front

Meanwhile, Israel’s military on Thursday called on residents of more than 20 towns in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately as it continued its offensive after suffering its worst losses in a year of fighting with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, it said. Reuters.

The call for evacuations from southern cities included the provincial capital of Nabatieh, suggesting another Israeli operation aimed at further weakening Hezbollah is imminent.

Israel, which has been fighting Hamas in Gaza for nearly a year, sent troops into southern Lebanon after two weeks of heavy airstrikes, escalating tensions.

Overnight, Israel bombed downtown Beirut, an attack that Lebanon’s health ministry said killed 9 people.

Reuters witnesses reported hearing a huge explosion, which a security source said targeted a building in the Bahura district, a few hundred meters from the parliament, Israel’s closest strike to the city center.

“Another sleepless night in Beirut. Counting the explosions shaking the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what’s next. Only this uncertainty lies ahead. Anxiety and fear are everywhere,” the special told Platform X UN Lebanon Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on Thursday.

A Hezbollah-linked civil defense organization said 7 of its personnel, including 2 doctors, were killed in the Beirut attack, which Israel said was a “precise” airstrike.

Israel also said it targeted a municipal building in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, killing 15 Hezbollah members, while more than 12 Israeli rockets also hit the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week.

Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in ground fighting on Wednesday in southern Lebanon as its forces fell into its northern neighbor.

As it pushes into southern Lebanon, Israel is also considering its options for retaliating against archenemy Iran.