Beirut, Sep 22 : Hezbollah targeted the Ramat David Airbase in northern Israel at dawn on Sunday with surface-to-surface missiles for the first time in response to Israeli attacks on areas in Lebanon.

"The targeted Ramat David base is one of three main air bases in the Zionist entity that has strategic importance for the Lebanese and Syrian arenas," Hezbollah said in a statement as reported by Xinhua news agency.

"This base is located on the Haifa/Tiberias axis, its area is no less than 10 km, and combat and spy planes take off from it, and an advanced missile and air defence system surrounds it," the statement added.

Lebanese military sources, who spoke anonymously, told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes at dawn on Sunday on several towns and villages in the south and east of Lebanon, adding that "Israeli warplanes and drones are flying intensively in the skies of most Lebanese regions".

The Israeli military said it struck around 290 targets on Saturday, including thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels, and said it would continue to hit more targets.

Israel closed schools and restricted gatherings in many northern areas and ordered hospitals there to transfer their operations to facilities with extra protection from rocket and missile fire.

There were no government directives from Lebanon on Sunday morning.

The conflict -- which sharply escalated over the past week -- has raged since Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel after Israel went to war with Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, triggered by the Hamas-led rampage in southern Israel on October 7.

Tension along the Israel-Lebanon border has escalated sharply following communication device explosions across Lebanon earlier this week that killed 37 and injured 2,931, as well as an Israeli airstrike on Friday targeting a building in the Jamous area in the southern suburbs of Beirut that killed at least 31 and injured 66.

These developments marked the latest escalation of the ongoing conflict on the Israel-Lebanon border that began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel's retaliatory artillery fire and airstrikes into southeastern Lebanon.

The conflict has already caused heavy casualties and displaced tens of thousands on both sides.

/IANS