Lebanon's Hezbollah using new weapons in Israel attacks, Nasrallah says

Hezbollah's chief said Saturday that the group was using new weapons in its attacks on Israel, as exchanges of fire on Lebanon's southern border intensify.

Over the past week, the Iran-backed group has "bolstered" its action "on the Lebanese front in terms of the number of operations, targets and the type of weapons," Hassan Nasrallah said in his second televised address since Israel's war on Gaza began on 7 October.

Hezbollah has used "Burkan missiles," for the first time, he said, adding that they could carry "a payload of 300-500 kilogrammes."

The group has been using attack drones "for the first time in the history of the resistance" in Lebanon, he said, and has been flying "reconnaissance drones" deep into Israel daily, "some reaching Haifa, Acre and Safed" in the country's north.

Since 7 October, Lebanon's southern border has seen intensifying tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian group, stoking fears of a broader conflagration.

Israeli fire has since last month killed at least 11 civilians in Lebanon, as well as 68 Hezbollah fighters and 12 other combatants, according to an AFP tally.

Six soldiers and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

Hezbollah fighters "are putting themselves on the front line to launch rockets" at Israeli targets, Nasrallah said, adding that Israeli drones were constantly flying over southern Lebanon.

Noting attacks on Israel and on US troops in the Middle East by other Iran-backed groups including from Iraq and Yemen, Nasrallah told Washington: "If you Americans want to stop these operations... you must stop the war on Gaza."

He said "several" Hezbollah members were killed in Syria on Friday, where the group has long been deployed on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war.

Hezbollah said Friday that Israeli fire killed seven of its fighters, without specifying where or when they died.

Israel's military said it struck an organisation in Syria that was behind a drone crash into a school in southern Israel a day earlier.

Israel's siege, bombardment and ground offensive has killed 11,078 people in Gaza, including 4,506 children, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Israeli officials say Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 240 hostage in their 7 October attacks.