Israel strike kills 2 fighters in Lebanon

Beirut, Lebanon – AFP

At least two Hezbollah fighters were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a residential building in south Lebanon on Thursday, a security source said.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since Israel launched its ongoing war on Gaza in October.

An Israeli drone shot two guided missiles at the building in Kfar Rumman, near south Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh, the security source said, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to brief the media.

Kfar Rumman lies around 12 kilometres (seven miles) from the Israeli border.

Hamas ally Hezbollah had claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops and positions on Thursday, including one which it said was in response to “Israeli attacks on villages and civilian houses”.

The violence on Israel’s northern border has sparked fears of another full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah like that of 2006.

Since October, at least 273 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 42 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

Last week, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed that Israel would pay “with blood”, after 10 civilians, including seven members of one family, were killed. Five Hezbollah fighters were also killed.

On Wednesday, an Israeli strike killed a woman and a girl, prompting retaliatory fire from Hezbollah.