Beirut, Aug 27 : Hezbollah has claimed that it targeted Israeli "spy equipment" at the Ramyah site in northern Israel with a suicide drone, achieving a direct hit.

"In support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and their resistance, our fighters targeted the spy equipment at the Ramyah site with a suicide drone, hitting it directly," the Shia group said on Monday evening.

Military sources in Lebanon, speaking anonymously, told Xinhua that Israeli drones and warplanes carried out 12 airstrikes on border towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Monday.

The strikes targeted a car and two motorcycles, causing only material damage, Xinhua news agency reported.

They added that an Israeli drone fired two air-to-ground missiles at a vehicle travelling on the main road in the Abra area, setting the car on fire. The driver, reportedly a leader of a Palestinian faction, survived the attack.

Israeli artillery shelled 16 border towns in southern Lebanon, destroying 11 homes and damaging around 24 others, with no casualties reported.

Since early Sunday morning, Israeli and Hezbollah forces have engaged in extensive exchanges of fire along the Israel-Lebanon border, marking a significant escalation in their conflict.

Hezbollah has announced it launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation for the killing of its commander, Fouad Shokor, in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month.

In response, Israel reported conducting numerous pre-emptive airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border have intensified since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7.

/IANS