Hezbollah attacks Israeli regional council after 3 killed in Blida

Hezbollah attacked Friday with two suicide drones the headquarters of the Upper Galilee Regional Council in Kiryat Shmona, in response to an overnight strike that killed a Hezbollah fighter and two paramedics.

Hezbollah had earlier announced the death of one of its fighters and two affiliated paramedics in a drone strike on the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee in the southern border town of Blida overnight.

The strike also caused "the destruction of the health center as well as a number of ambulances".

The Israeli army said late Thursday that it had identified fighters "entering a Hezbollah military compound in the area of Blida".

"Fighter jets were scrambled and struck the compound where the terrorists were identified," it said in a statement.

Hezbollah said the attack on Kiryat Shmona was in response to Blida's strike on the civil defense center and other "attacks on villages and civilian homes".

The night before, Hezbollah also fired rockets at an Israeli barracks in response to the Blida attack, but did not announced any casualties at the time.

Two other Hezbollah fighters were also killed Thursday in an Israeli drone strike on a residential building in Kfar Rumman, near the southern city of Nabatiyeh, around 12 kilometers from the border. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket fire, including "dozens of Katyusha rockets" at two Israeli barracks, later calling one of the two fighters killed a "commander" in a funeral notice.

A Lebanese security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the commander was involved in Hezbollah's "rocket capabilities".

On Friday, a Lebanese army soldier was wounded in al-Wazzani as the Israeli army targeted the border town with heavy machine-gun fire and artillery shells.

Israeli artillery also shelled the southern border towns of Yaroun and Blida while warplanes carried out an airstrike on Kfarkila.

The escalating 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 in Lebanon's largest single-day death toll so far. Five Hezbollah fighters were also killed.

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