Violence continued Monday between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia, with attacks killing two Hezbollah fighters and an Israeli soldier.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, two people were killed in an Israeli attack on Houla. Hezbollah later reported that two fighters had also been killed there.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on its Telegram channel that it had “targeted Hezbollah terrorists in the area of Houla in southern Lebanon.” It also hit a rocket launcher and military structures in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Hanine, the IDF said.
No comment was given on the number of casualties.
Hezbollah does not usually provide details about when, where and how its members die, but later said in a statement that two of its fighters were killed.
An Israeli soldier was killed and several others were wounded, one seriously, in a drone strike carried out from Lebanon over Israel’s northern border on Monday, an Israeli military spokesman said.
The 45-year-old soldier was a member of the IDF’s Desert Reconnaissance Battalion.
According to the spokesman, five drones carrying explosives were launched from bases operated by Hezbollah. Israel’s Iron Dome defense system intercepted three of them, but two managed to get through.
Hezbollah claimed multiple attacks on Israeli troops and military positions in northern Israel, including a drone strike on a base and an attack on Israeli soldiers. The militia said they were trying to “infiltrate” the Lebanese border.
Meanwhile, a series of Israeli attacks have targeted Hezbollah-controlled pro-Iranian areas in eastern Lebanon, wounding at least eight people, security sources said.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said in a statement that eight people were wounded in the Israeli strikes, “including six Lebanese civilians, a five-year-old Syrian girl and a 15-year-old Syrian girl.”
The state news agency (NNA) reported that a series of airstrikes hit eastern and southern Lebanon. It said that towns in the Baalbek district were targeted by at least three Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli military said Israeli fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah weapons storage facilities. It said secondary explosions were identified, indicating “large quantities of weapons in the affected facilities.”
Since the war in the Gaza Strip began more than 10 months ago, military clashes have taken place daily between the Israeli army and Hezbollah militias in Lebanon and other groups in the border area between the countries.
There were casualties on both sides, most of them members of Hezbollah.