BEIRUT, November 8. /TASS/. Members of the Lebanon-based Shiite Hezbollah party’s armed wing claim to have taken down at least 119 Merkava tanks since the beginning of the armed conflict with Israel, according to a statement on Telegram.

"Over the past 33 days of war, Hezbollah fighters were able to destroy or seriously damage 119 [Israeli] Merkava tanks," the statement says. Israel has not yet commented on this information.

In an October 31 statement, Hezbollah claimed that its fighters had wiped out nine Merkava tanks and two Zelda armored personnel carriers since the beginning of the military escalation on the Lebanon-Israel border.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets targeted southern Lebanon on Wednesday night after Hezbollah militants had attacked the Golan Heights. More than 20 settlements came under fire, according to the Al Jadeed TV channel. The Shiite militia's air defenses attempted to hit one of the Israeli planes by firing a surface-to-air missile.

Israel Defense Forces artillery shelled the border village of al-Duheira on Tuesday night, firing 15 shells.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.