The Israeli military said on Sunday that it has launched what it called "preemptive" airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after detecting moves to fire missiles and rockets into Israel.

Israeli military spokesperson Daneil Hagari said in a statement that in a self-defense act to remove these threats, the Israeli military is striking terror targets in Lebanon.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Islamic militant organization operating in Lebanon, has been promising to retaliate for Israel's assassination of a top commander late last month.

Israel warned Lebanese civilians in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to immediately leave, saying that Hezbollah would soon fire rockets, missiles and drones into Israel.

Shortly afterwards, Hezbollah said it had launched a large-scale drone attack on Israel in response to last month's killing of the group's senior military commander.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a 48-hour nationwide state of emergency.