JERUSALEM - Rockets fired by Hezbollah guerrillas into northern Israel from Lebanon killed at least three people and landed in the deepest area yet since the start of an offensive three weeks ago.
Witnesses and police said two rockets landed in open areas near the city of Hadera, about 80 km (50 miles) from the Lebanese border. No casualties were reported, medics said.
"We were on the balcony and heard the siren," a witness who gave his name as Aviram told Israel's Channel 10. "I thought it was a false alarm. What a boom! I shook."
An earlier barrage of rockets fired by the group killed three Israelis, including one in a Druze-Arab village in northern Israel. The deaths raised to 30 the number of civilians killed by rocket fire from Lebanon since the offensive began.
The Hadera strike marked the furthest point such rockets had landed in what has become daily barrages by the group against the Jewish state and frequent Israeli air strikes in Lebanon. More than 200 rockets landed in Israel on Friday, police said.
Hezbollah said it had fired "Khaibar 1" rockets at Hadera in response to recent Israeli attacks. Israel killed at least 40 Lebanese civilians on Friday. The army said it had targeted infrastructure and buildings used by Hezbollah.
Three Israeli Soldiers Killed
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had threatened the group would fire longer-range missiles into Israel to target the city of Tel Aviv, located 130 km (80 miles) from Lebanon, if the Israel attacked deeper areas in Lebanon, as it has promised.
Hezbollah guerrillas also killed three Israeli soldiers in heavy fighting in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army has launched several incursions in a bid to push the armed group further north and stop its rocket strikes.
Israeli officials and military commanders said on Friday the army would continue targeting Hezbollah, its rocket-launchers and buildings and infrastructures used by the group and could not give an estimate of when the attacks would end.
"The fighting is occuring according to all plans," Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz told reporters. "We intend to carry out the entire mission, so Hezbollah should not delude itself into thinking we plan to give up."
An army spokesman said earlier that Israeli forces hit at least seven Hezbollah fighters during the battle in the Lebanese town of Markaba. Israeli media said the seven had been killed.
The violence began after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid on July 12. Since then, Israel has killed least 727 people in Lebanon and 74 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.
An army spokesman said another barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah earlier had struck the deserted Syrian town of Quneitra on the Golan Heights, with some landing in Syrian territory and others landing on the side occupied by Israel.
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