On Thursday, Senior Hezbollah official and parliament member Hassan Fadlallah asserted that Israel would experience consequences following two rounds of strikes in southern Lebanon the day before, resulting in the tragic deaths of ten civilians, including half of them being children. When questioned about the Iran-backed group’s response to the deadliest day for Lebanese civilians in the past four months of hostilities along the southern border, Fadlallah told Reuters, “The enemy (Israel) will face the repercussions for these crimes.”

The Israeli attacks took place in the southern towns of al-Sawana and Nabatieh, which lie near the Lebanese border with Israel. A Hezbollah statement claimed five attacks on Israel near the border in support of “the steadfast people and its valiant resistance.”

An Israeli airstrike against a vehicle in al-Sawana killed a woman and her two daughters, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. The second strike hit a house in the town of Adshit, killing one person identified by Hezbollah as a fighter and wounding 10, NNA reported. It also destroyed a building and caused heavy damage to shops and residential buildings nearby.

In the other attack, an Israeli warplane struck a car in the town of Nabatieh. The two children in the vehicle, who were traveling with their grandmother, were killed, and the mother was injured, NNA reported. A recording of a television transmission from the scene of the attack showed members of Lebanon’s civil defense team picking up charred bodies and placing them into ambulances.

Hezbollah is continuing a campaign of attacks on Israeli positions near the border, which it says is in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza. It has been threatening to drag Lebanon into another war with Israel, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned of the group’s growing strength.

Its involvement in the Syrian civil war has made it a key power broker. Its leadership has sought to justify its actions by saying they are necessary to preserve the vital interests of Shi’ite communities in Syria, including sites holy to Shi’ite Muslims, as well as protecting Lebanon from the infiltration of jihadi organizations, which Hezbollah calls takfiri.

The United States has criticized Hezbollah’s role in the conflict and has warned that it could use its presence to instigate a regional war with Israel. But Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed that the group will continue its military and political presence in the country as it prepares for a possible war against Israel. The organization has more than doubled its forces in Syria to 40,000 and is securing more arms from the Iranian government, according to Western intelligence estimates. It has been smuggling weapons into Syria for use in the conflict and establishing a network of tunnels that have allowed it to bring back advanced weaponry from the battlefield. It has also been fighting alongside the Syrian army to protect the country’s border with Israel.