Violence rises in Lebanon - Israelis, Hezbollah fighters killed

Violence continued between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia on Monday, with two Hezbollah fighters and one Israeli soldier killed in attacks.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said two people had been killed in an Israeli attack on Houla and later Hezbollah said two of its fighters had been killed there.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on its Telegram channel that it had "struck Hezbollah terrorists in the area of Houla in southern Lebanon." It also hit a launcher and military structures in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Hanine, the IDF said.

It did not comment on casualties.

Hezbollah usually does not elaborate on when, where and how its members die, but said later in a statement the dead were two of its fighters.

An Israeli soldier was killed and several others injured, one of them seriously, in a drone attack mounted on Monday from Lebanon across Israel's northern border, an IDF spokesman said.

The 45-year-old soldier was a member of the IDF's Desert Reconnaissance Battalion.

According to the spokesman, five drones armed with explosives were launched from bases operated by Hezbollah. Israel's Iron Dome defence system intercepted three of them, but two managed to get through.

Hezbollah claimed several 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 strikes targeted pro-Iranian Hezbollah-controlled areas in eastern Lebanon wounding at least eight people, security sources said.

Lebanon's Health Ministry, in a statement, said that the Israeli strikes wounded eight people, "including six Lebanese citizens, a five-year-old Syrian girl, and a fifteen-year-old Syrian girl."

The state-run news agency (NNA) said a series of airstrikes hit eastern and southern Lebanon. It said the towns in the Baalbek district were targeted by at least three Israeli air strikes.

The Israeli army said Israeli fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah weapon storage facilities. It said secondary explosions were identified, indicating "large amounts of weapons in the facilities struck."

Since the war in the Gaza Strip began more than 10 months ago, there have been daily military confrontations between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and other groups in the border area between the countries.

There were casualties on both sides, most of them members of Hezbollah.