Israel said it had attacked two other Hezbollah fighters in the south (representative)
Beirut, Lebanon:
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least six fighters and one child on Friday, according to security sources, while the armed group Hezbollah responded with artillery rounds and rockets across the border.
The Israeli army, in parallel to the Gaza war, has exchanged fire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah across Lebanon’s southern border, with hostilities increasing recently amid fears that a full-scale regional war could break out .
Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese towns of Mays al-Jabal and Tayr Harfa killed four Hezbollah fighters on Friday, according to the party’s obituaries and a security source.
Another fighter was killed in a separate attack outside Aitarun, the security source said. It was not immediately clear whether the fighter was a Hezbollah member.
A separate Israeli attack on the village of Aita, about 9 miles (14 km) north of the border with Israel, killed a Hezbollah fighter and a child, the security source told Reuters. Hezbollah identified the fighter killed in Aita as Mohammad Najem.
The Israeli military said in a statement posted online that it attacked Najem in Aita because he was a member of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit. It said it had attacked two other Hezbollah fighters in the south.
The statement said that “a number of projectiles fired from Lebanese territory” had entered northern Israel, but no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah’s press service said the group had fired rockets and artillery fire at several Israeli military positions throughout the day.
According to Reuters figures, more than 600 people have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting began in October last year, including more than 400 Hezbollah fighters and more than 130 civilians.
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