The attack follows a bloody weekend rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel blamed on Hezbollah.
Israeli drone strikes have reportedly killed two people in southern Lebanon as conflict escalates between neighboring states.
The Israeli attack was the first lethal action after a rocket attack on Saturday that Israel said killed 12 children and young people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The strike has raised concerns that the war in Gaza threatens to escalate into a regional conflict.
Lebanese state media said an attack hit a motorcycle near the border, killing two motorcyclists and injuring a child. Two others were injured in a separate attack in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it had attacked Hezbollah agents and infrastructure, but gave no further information.
Israel blamed Hezbollah for the rocket attack over the weekend. The pair have been carrying out a long campaign of low-level hostilities across the border for many months.
The Lebanese armed group, which is aligned with Iran and has promised to continue attacking Israel in solidarity with Gaza, denied responsibility.
On Sunday night, Israel’s security cabinet authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to retaliate.
Israel’s largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, quoted unnamed Israeli officials as saying Israel’s response would be “limited but significant.”
He listed options ranging from a limited but “photogenic” attack on infrastructure such as bridges, power plants and ports, to attacks on Hezbollah weapons depots.
‘Chaos’ in Beirut
Anticipating Israeli counterattacks, Hezbollah and its affiliated groups evacuated some positions in parts of Lebanon and Syria that could be a target, AFP news agency reported citing a source close to the Lebanese group.
Fears of Israeli retaliation also extended to Beirut’s international airport.
The scene was chaotic on Monday morning at Beirut international airport, with many airlines canceling their flights and passengers queuing in cars outside the terminals, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reported.
“There is concern that the airport could be a target,” Khodr said from the airport. “Sources here told us that throughout the night there were Israeli drones flying overhead.”
Both Israel and Hezbollah appear to be striving to avoid a full-scale war since they began exchanging blows in October, mainly limiting their attacks to border areas and military targets.
But Khodr said “there is a lot of concern” in Lebanon that the latest wave of attacks could be a game-changer, leading to deeper threats in the country.
“The question is – will [Israel] hit Lebanon’s infrastructure [in response] or will they hit a Hezbollah target?” she said.
“The other question is: what will Hezbollah’s response be? If it is a measured response, the conflict can be contained. But if it is not a considered response, then we are talking about an extension of this conflict, which has been largely confined to the border.”
Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., said Israel and Hezbollah are not interested in an all-out war that anticipates mass displacement of their populations along conflict lines and because of the duration of the fighting.
“I don’t think the Israeli prime minister is interested in an all-out war at this point, in part because there are uncontrollable and unpredictable consequences in a larger war in Lebanon involving Hezbollah. Because eventually, if the situation escalates, it will also involve Iran,” said Slim.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
