Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones against Israel in retaliation for the assassination of a senior commander in Beirut last month, the Iranian-backed movement said, as Israel’s cabinet met to prepare a response, Reuters reports.

Israeli jets hit targets in Lebanon shortly before the strikes as the military assessed that Hezbollah was preparing to begin the barrage, the military said.

Hezbollah said it had launched more than 320 Katyusha rockets towards Israel and hit 11 military targets. It said the barrage had completed “the first phase” of its response to the assassination of Fuad Shukr, a senior commander, in Beirut but that the full response would take “some time”.

Expectations of an escalation between the two sides had risen since a missile strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last month killed 12 youngsters and the Israeli military assassinated Shukr in Beirut in response.