Hezbollah targets Haifa, injuring six, as Israel intensifies strikes

The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon on Wednesday shortly after air raid sirens blared in and around the coastal town of Caesarea, south of Haifa.

Six were injured in the rocket attack.

Sirens were also sounded elsewhere in northern Israel, a day after the Israeli army said Hezbollah had fired 180 projectiles into Israel, mainly at Haifa and the north.

Hezbollah said it fired a large salvo of missiles at Israel's Zofolon area north of Haifa.

On Tuesday Hezbollah warned that it would intensify attacks on Israel, including Haifa, if it continues to strike Lebanon.

"The Israeli enemy's intensifying strikes" mean that "Haifa and other locations will be targeted by our rockets just as much as Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and other" locations, the group said.

A series of Israeli strikes on south Beirut stronghold on Tuesday caused "massive destruction" and razed at least four buildings.

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in recent days after Israel ramped up its airstrikes in Lebanon and pushed ahead with a ground incursion.

Most of the rockets have been intercepted or landed in open areas, but the barrages have grown more intense and have reached deeper into Israel, disrupting daily life.

- Two killed in Kiryat Shmona -

Israeli emergency responders said two people were killed Wednesday in a rocket attack on the northern city of Kiryat Shmona.

"We found a man and a woman aged around 40 years old, unconscious and injured by shrapnel. We carried out medical examinations, but their injuries were serious and we had to declare them dead on the spot," said emergency service provider Magen David Adom in a statement.

- Hezbollah attacks Safad -

Sirens also sounded in Safad as dozens of rockets were fired towards the northern city.

Heavy booms were heard with a number of interceptions seen in the skies over Safad, Israeli media said, reporting a direct hit on a house.