The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on August 25 that it had deployed about 100 fighter jets to attack and destroy thousands of rocket launchers of Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon.

According to the IDF, these launchers were used to attack northern localities, some of them aimed at central Israel. Meanwhile, the Lebanese press reported on the same day that one of the Israeli attacks in the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon killed one civilian.

Earlier, the IDF said it had launched a preemptive strike on Hezbollah, after discovering that the movement was planning a large-scale attack using missiles and drones in the early morning of August 25.

The Israeli Defense Ministry has declared a 48-hour state of emergency, starting at 6 a.m. (local time on August 25, or 10 a.m. Vietnam time). Alarms have also been sounded in northern Israel, while the Iron Dome system has shot down several rockets from southern Lebanon. Israel's ambulance service is also on high alert across the country.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah confirmed that it had begun attacking Israel with a large number of drones in response to an attack that killed its senior commander in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon last month.

Accordingly, Hezbollah announced that it had completed "phase 1" of the campaign to retaliate for Israel's assassination of Mr. Fuad Shukr - the force's top commander - in the suburbs of the capital Beirut.

Hezbollah said it attacked 11 Israeli military sites, launched more than 320 rockets and deployed drones to infiltrate northern Israel on August 25.

MINH CHAU