Israeli troops clash with Hezbollah as they advance toward Qussair in south Lebanon
The Israeli army shelled Friday al-Naqoura, al-Bayyada and Shamaa in south Lebanon with white phosphorus bombs after Hezbollah claimed attacks against troops trying to advance there.
The troops were advancing from Deir al-Seryan toward Al-Qussair, media reports said, while Hezbollah claimed attacks on troops and tanks in Naqoura, Qantara, Deir al-Seryan, al-Taybeh, Khiam, al-Bayyada, al-Qawzah, Beit Leef and Debel.
The group said its fighters fought fierce battles in the villages of Shamaa and Bayada near the Mediterranean coast.
Artillery-delivered white phosphorus was used over a wide area, said Rich Weir, Senior Advisor at Human Right Watch’s Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division. "While the legality of its use here is difficult to ascertain without more information, it’s incendiary effects can cause devastating injuries."
Weir said the rights group has documented Israel using the substance “repeatedly unlawfully” in populated areas in Lebanon in other instances.
Israel has maintained that it has used the substance as a smokescreen or to light up areas in line with international law.
The Israeli army said Friday a soldier and a combat officer were severely injured in south Lebanon and were evacuated to a hospital. On Thursday, two soldiers were also killed in south Lebanon, while Israeli emergency services said a rocket fired from Lebanon killed a man in northern Israel's Nahariya area.
Hezbollah also targeted overnight into Friday Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya, Malkiya, Shtula, Eilon, Shomera, Mi'ilya, Metula, the Rosh Pinna industrial area, Misgav Am, Kabri, and Safad in north Israel. In the occupied Golan Heights, Hezbollah targeted Katzrin and Odem.
Attacks were carried out with rockets, suicide drones and roadside bombs.
The Israeli army meanwhile struck Qana, Siddiqine, Haddatha, Majdalzoun, Henniyyeh, al-Naqoura, al-Tiri, Kafra, Yater, tayr Harfa, Zebqine, al-Ramadiyyeh, Bint Jbeil, Marjaoun, Ainata, al-Mansouri, Kfar Remman, Hanine, Habboush, Sarafand, Zawtar al-Sharqiya and al-Qlayleh in south Lebanon and called on residents of Sojod to evacuate to the north of the Zahrani river, warning of an imminent attack.
The National News Agency said a strike targeted a car on the Qlayleh road.
At least eight were killed in south Lebanon, four of them in al-Saksakiyeh and two in Zawtar, while a strike without warning on Tahwitat al-Ghadir in Beirut's southern suburbs at dawn killed two people.
At least sixteen other people were wounded in the south.
The Health Ministry said the airstrike destroyed a house in the coastal village of Saksakiyeh and wounded eight people, as airstrikes also targeted the southern city of Nabatiyeh and villages close to it as well as other towns and villages in the coastal Tyre region.
In the east of the country, a strike targeted Bezzaliyeh in the Northern Bekaa.
Source: Naharnet
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