BEIRUT, March 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting multiple areas in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon's Health Ministry reported Wednesday.

Israeli flares descend to southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel, on Oct. 4, 2024. (File photo: Xinhua)

In retaliation, Hezbollah started the "Al-Asf Al-Ma'koul" operations, launching rockets intensively toward northern Israel, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

The group said it launched rocket salvos at multiple Israeli military sites, including the Northern Command headquarters at the Dado base, the Ein Zeitim base, and targets near Safed, Kiryat Shmona, Nahariyya, Haifa, and Lake Tiberias.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee responded on social media platform X, saying, "If Hezbollah launches 'Al-Asf Al-Ma'koul,' we will respond 'double measure for measure.'"

"If Hezbollah feeds on illusions of 'the storm,' the reality on the battlefield will prove that the strikes of the Israel Defense Forces will return to them double," Adraee said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it began a "large-scale attack wave of strikes" on Beirut's southern suburb on Wednesday night in response to Hezbollah's rocket launches.

Late Wednesday, multiple media reports said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it has carried out a "joint and integrated operation" with Hezbollah against targets in Israel.

Hezbollah announced the launch of rockets from Lebanon toward Israel at dawn on March 2 for the first time since a ceasefire was declared on Nov. 27, 2024. Israel subsequently launched what it described as an "offensive military campaign" against the group, including heavy airstrikes targeting Beirut's southern suburbs and areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as border ground incursions.