News - Middle East: At least seven Israeli forces have reportedly been killed during clashes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement on the country’s southern border with the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli media outlets said the fatalities were caused during the clashes that took place near the Lebanese villages of Aita al-Shaab and Ramia on the border on Wednesday.

Scores of other troops were wounded, some 17 of them seriously, during the confrontation that followed an ambush by Hezbollah, the outlets noted amid reported tight censorship being imposed around the incident by the Israeli military.

Earlier, reports indicated that at least 49 wounded troops had been evacuated to hospitals in the occupied territories following the incident.

Some 44 of the wounded were flown to hospitals in the city of Haifa in the northern part of the territories.

Rambam Hospital in the city declared a mass casualty event and called for additional medical staff after eight helicopters landed there bearing the casualties.

According to Hezbollah, the confrontation saw the group’s fighters “engaging in violent clashes with the Israeli forces from zero distance with various types of machineguns.”

The clashes are reportedly continuing amid heavy artillery bombardment and helicopter activity in the area.

The incident affected forces of the Israeli military’s Golani Brigade.

Hezbollah has launched hundreds of retaliatory strikes against the occupied territories and the Israeli forces trying to invade Lebanon since last October, when the regime began intensifying its deadly attacks against the country. The escalation has so far claimed the lives of more than 2,300 Lebanese people.

Also on Wednesday, the movement targeted gatherings of Israeli forces in the illegal settlements of Khallet Warda, Misgav Am and another such group in Wadi Hounin with rocket barrages, besides bombarding the city of Safed.

Hezbollah fighters, meanwhile, confronted two Israeli drones, which had invaded Lebanon’s southern airspace, with surface-to-air missiles, forcing them to fly back towards the occupied territories.

On Tuesday, the group’s Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem underlined the importance of resistance in the face of the regime, asserting, “Israel and those behind it wage war and commit massacres, leaving us no choice but to take a stand.”

Source: Press TV