(Beirut) Israeli raids killed five people in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese state media and a source close to Hezbollah said, with the Israeli army claiming strikes against the Iran-backed Islamist movement.
Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has regularly exchanged cross-border fire with Israel since the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 in southern Israel, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
The official Lebanese press agency (ANI) reported “two martyrs and two injured civilians” during a raid by the “Israeli enemy” who “targeted a motorcycle in Hula”, a border village.
This is the third strike against motorcycles on Sunday in southern Lebanon, according to the same source.
Previously, the agency also reported a strike “against a motorcycle” which left “two martyrs and injured civilians” in Aita al-Shaab, affirming that the strike on this border village had been carried out by an “Israeli” drone. “.
ANI reported another strike carried out on the border town of Naqoura, which also “targeted a motorcycle”, reporting casualties without further details.
For its part, the Israeli army indicated in a statement that “a Hezbollah terrorist had been identified leaving a military structure” in the Naqoura region, adding that “a plane had struck and eliminated” the fighter. The army said it had struck “two identified Hezbollah terrorists operating” in the Aita al-Shaab region.
Hezbollah later announced the death of a fighter, and a source close to the movement said he had been killed in Naqoura.
The powerful Shiite movement later claimed responsibility in a statement for several attacks on Sunday against Israeli positions and troops, in response to the raids in Naqoura and Aita al-Shaab.
In recent weeks, Hezbollah has intensified its cross-border attacks, which it says support Gaza residents and its ally Hamas, while the Israeli army has struck deeper into Lebanese territory.
The violence left at least 438 dead in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also 82 civilians, according to an AFP report.
Israel says 14 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed on its side of the border.