Beirut, Sep 22 (IANS): Three people were killed and four others injured on Sunday in Israeli airstrikes on dozens of villages and towns in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese military sources.

The sources, who spoke anonymously, told Xinhua news agency that about 90 Israeli airstrikes, involving drones and warplanes, targeted Hezbollah sites on the outskirts of dozens of southern towns and villages.

The casualties were reported in three separate raids, which took place in the villages of Khiam, Aitaroun, and Maaliya, respectively, with each raid leaving one dead, according to the sources.

The raids also destroyed about 40 homes and damaged around 100 others, they added.

Meanwhile, the launch of three rocket barrages, comprising 80 rockets and several drones, was monitored from Lebanon toward northern Israel.

Due to security concerns, Rambam Health Care Campus, the largest hospital in northern Israel, has relocated its operations to a secured underground parking facility. Other hospitals in the region have also been directed to operate in protected areas.

Tension along the Israel-Lebanon border has escalated sharply following communication device explosions across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday that killed 37 people and injured 2,931, as well as an Israeli airstrike on Friday targeting a building in the Jamous area in the southern suburbs of Beirut that killed 37 and injured 66.

The Israeli army and Hezbollah, which has deep ties to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, have been exchanging fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since Oct. 8, 2023, raising fears that the nearly one-year-long confrontations could escalate into a full-scale war.