Israel strikes on Lebanon kill three, says source close to Hezbollah

BEIRUT (AFP): Israeli air strikes on Friday hit an area of southern Lebanon far from the border, with Hezbollah announcing one dead fighter and official media saying two Syrian children were killed.

Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has traded cross-border fire with Israeli forces almost daily since the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month.

The Iran-backed Lebanese movement has intensified its attacks in recent days, including using new weapons.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said “Israeli strikes targeted Najjariyeh and Addousiyeh,” two adjacent villages just south of the coastal city of Sidon, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Israeli border.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its air force “struck terrorist infrastructure” where Hezbollah fighters operated in the Najjariyeh area.

The “infrastructure contained several compounds used by Hezbollah’s aerial defense array and posed a threat to Israeli aircraft,” it added.

Hezbollah announced a fighter from Najjariyeh had died. The NNA said two Syrian children were killed in the Najjariyeh strike, identifying them as Osama and Hani Al-Khaled.

An AFP photographer said the strikes hit a pickup truck in Najjariyeh and an orchard.

The Israeli army statement said that “Hezbollah’s aerial defense array deliberately operates from within civilian areas, thus endangering the lives of civilians in southern Lebanon.”

Hezbollah announced Friday it had launched “attack drones” on Israeli military positions, a day after the powerful Lebanese group said it had attacked an army position in Metula, a border town in northern Israel, wounding three soldiers.

Hezbollah said Thursday’s attack was carried out with an “attack drone carrying two S5 rockets,” which are normally launched from jets.

Earlier this week Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli base near Tiberias, about 30 kilometers from the Lebanese border — one of the group’s deepest attacks into Israeli territory since clashes began on October 8.

The cross-border fighting has killed at least 418 people in Lebanon, mostly militants but also including 82 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 14 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed on its side of the border.