9 killed in two Israeli strikes on Tayr Harfa, Naqoura
Israeli airstrikes killed nine people in southern Lebanon late Wednesday, including paramedics who were preparing to respond to the first strike, the state-run National News Agency said.
That raises the number of people killed by Israeli strikes Wednesday to 16, after an overnight attack hit a different paramedic center linked to a Lebanese Sunni Muslim group, killing seven of the group's members.
Earlier Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing a barrage of rockets into the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona and a military base, which killed one person. It said the rockets were in response to the deadly strike on the paramedics center.
The Lebanese news agency said Israel bombed the village of Tayr Harfa after sunset, killing five, and a second strike killed four people as paramedics gathered near a cafe in the coastal town of Naqoura.
Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Society said two of its paramedics were killed in Tayr Harfa while the Amal Movement-affiliated Islamic Risala Scout Association, also a paramedic group, said one of its members was killed in the strike on Naqoura. Hezbollah said four of its fighters were killed without saying where they were struck.
The Amal movement said the strike on Naqoura killed one of its local commanders, identified as Ali Mahdi.
Israel’s military said it had struck a Hezbollah military compound in Tayr Harfa and a “terrorist cell” in Naqoura.
Israel said the earlier strike in Hebbariye killed a member of the Sunni al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, and several other militants. It said the man was involved in attacks against Israel.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets into northern Israel since the day after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. The near-daily violence has mostly been confined to the area along the Lebanon-Israel border.
Nearly 240 Hezbollah fighters and about 40 civilians have died in Lebanon. The fighting has killed nine civilians and 11 soldiers in Israel.
