Israel says anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon killed civilian
An anti-tank missile fired Thursday from Lebanese territory has killed a civilian in northern Israel, according to the Israeli army and emergency medical service.
In a statement, the army said "terrorists launched an anti-tank missile from Lebanese territory toward the area of Matat", while the emergency service Magen David Adom said in a separate statement that a 60-year-old man was brought to one of their teams nearby with no vital signs and declared dead.
"Additional launches from Lebanon toward Israel were also identified," the army said, adding its "helicopters, tanks and artillery are striking the sources".
Hezbollah said in a statement Thursday that it had targeted a group of soldiers in the Matat barracks with "appropriate weapons and caused confirmed casualties" and that it had killed two Israeli soldiers at the Raheb post.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli army reported "a number of launches" originating in Lebanon, adding that "fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah" targets in response.
During a visit to Israel's north on Thursday to assess the situation along the border, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah against seeking to widen the scope his country's war with Hamas in Gaza.
"If Hezbollah chooses to start a global war, then it will turn Beirut and south Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis with its own hands," he said, referring to areas that have seen heavy damage in the fighting.
On Tuesday, a Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli fire on a military post near the border, the Lebanese army said, marking the first such death since hostilities along the frontier intensified after the Israel-Hamas war broke out.
Israel's army expressed regret over the incident, saying in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that it had been trying to "eliminate" a Hezbollah threat and that the Lebanese army was "not the target of the strike".
Later Tuesday, Israeli shelling killed a Syrian labourer when it hit the chicken farm where he worked, according to Lebanon's National News Agency and a local official.
More than 110 people have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border since October, mostly Hezbollah fighters and more than a dozen civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says six of its soldiers and four Israeli civilians have been killed in the area.
Source: Agence France Presse
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