Beirut, Oct 10 (IANS): Hezbollah has attacked the Israeli Pranit and Avivim barracks in the north with guided missiles and mortar shells, in response to the killing of three of its members by Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon earlier on Monday, said the Lebanon-based armed group and political party in a statement.

Hezbollah's attack on Monday evening prompted the Israeli army to hit Lebanese positions with artillery in response, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Lebanese Army Command said that Israel bombed several border areas in southern Lebanon, and several mortar shells fell in the courtyard of a Lebanese army centre outside the town of Rmeish, injuring a Lebanese officer.

The incident comes after Israeli troops clashed with gunmen who infiltrated Israel from Lebanon and, in response, hit several Hezbollah positions on the border, killing three members.

Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Palestine's Islamic Jihad Movement, claimed "its responsibility" for the operation carried out on the border with occupied Palestine, injuring seven Israeli soldiers.

The situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border escalated over the past two days after the firing by Hezbollah on Sunday morning of tens of missiles toward military sites in Shebaa Farms in support of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation launched by Hamas on Saturday morning. The Israeli forces responded the same day by firing heavy artillery, targeting several areas in southeast Lebanon.