[Source: Reuters]

The Israeli military says it is conducting extensive strikes against targets of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

The military gave no further details of the strikes on Monday, which come amid some of the heaviest cross-border exchanges of fire in nearly a year of conflict running in parallel with the almost year-long Gaza war.

Hezbollah has declared an “open-ended battle” is underway with Israel as both sides appear to be spiralling closer toward all-out war.

Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets across northern Israel on Sunday, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon.

The overnight rocket barrage was in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon that have killed dozens, including a veteran Hezbollah commander, and an unprecedented attack last week targeting the military group’s communications devices.

Meanwhile, drones of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have targeted the Israeli military’s Golani observation base in the “occupied Palestinian territories”, the pro-Iranian militant group said on Monday.

On Sunday, the group said it had launched a drone attack on a target in the Israeli-occupied Jordan Valley.

Iraqi Shi’ite armed factions, like other pro-Iranian groups, pledged to carry out attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians after Hamas militants launched its attack on Israel on October 7, triggering the war in Gaza.

Islamic Resistance in Iraq has vowed to escalate its attacks.

In separate statements, the Israeli military said interceptors were launched towards an unmanned aerial vehicle that had been launched from Iraq and was identified crossing into Israeli territory from Syria.

The pro-Iranian militant group said its drones hit a location in the Jordan Valley in the “occupied Palestinian territories” but did not elaborate.

Tension in the Middle East has surged since thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group exploded in an attack widely blamed on Israel.