Border clashes renew after Israel airstrikes hit deep in Lebanon
The Israeli army struck Thursday the outskirts of several border towns including Yaroun, Aita al-Shaab, Aitaroun, Maroun al-Rass and Kfarkila, killing a woman in her eighties in Maroun al-Rass.
Israeli warplanes had carried out airstrikes deep inside Lebanon late Wednesday evening, hitting a forested area near the town of Bouslaya, more than 20 kilometers from the border, Lebanese state media reported.
Hezbollah and Israeli forces have clashed near-daily since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza. In recent days, officials from the U.S. and France visiting the region have sought to head off an escalation on the Lebanese front.
Earlier Wednesday, Hezbollah announced it had launched surface-to-air missiles at Israeli military helicopters, and the Israeli army said it had hit a “military compound, launch posts, a command center, and a weapons depot” belonging to Hezbollah.
Also on Wednesday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that an Israeli sniper had shot and killed a man in his car near the Lebanese border town of Kfarkila. Hezbollah, which normally announces the deaths of its fighters, did not claim the man as a member. The group later announced that one of its fighters had been killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the town of Markaba on Wednesday evening.
More than 110 Hezbollah fighters and at least 16 civilians have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border, while at least nine soldiers and five civilians have been killed on the Israeli side.
Source: Associated Press
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