One wounded in Israeli drone strike on Baalbek's Douris
An Israeli drone struck Thursday a fuel truck in the town of Douris southwest of Baalbek, wounding the driver, the National News Agency said.
Later on Thursday, Hezbollah targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in the Dhaira post in northern Israel while Israeli warplanes and artillery bombed the outskirts of the southern border towns of Alma al-Shaab and al-Naqoura.
The strike on Douris came a day after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli forces were carrying out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon, as cross-border fire intensified.
The violence has fuelled fears of all-out conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, which last went to war in 2006.
"An Israeli drone attack hit a truck carrying fuel" for Hezbollah in the village of Douris, just southwest of the Bekaa Valley city of Baalbek, a Hezbollah source told AFP.
The strike struck the truck driver, said the source, with the official National News Agency (NNA) confirming the report.
Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire in the south of Lebanon since the Gaza war erupted in October. Hezbollah began the attacks against Israel on October 8 in support of Gaza.
The Baalbek area is a stronghold of Hezbollah and has been struck by Israeli strikes in previous weeks.
But the focus of cross-border exchanges since the Gaza war began has been southern Lebanon, about 100 kilometres away and also a bastion of Hezbollah.
An Israeli army statement early Thursday said targets hit in southern Lebanon were in the area of Maroun el-Ras, Markaba and Alma al-Shaab, and included a Hezbollah observation post.
On Wednesday Israel's defense minister said in a statement that "many forces are deployed on the border and IDF (military) forces are carrying out offensive action currently throughout southern Lebanon".
He also said, without elaborating, that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in months of violence.
The Israeli army also said Wednesday that it had struck 40 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
Wednesday's strikes came after Hezbollah said it fired a barrage of rockets across the border following a strike that killed two civilians which the group blamed on Israel.
The NNA said Thursday that Israeli warplanes struck overnight the southern border town of Maroun al-Rass, damaging the water and electricity infrastructure in the town and shelled flare bombs on al-Labbouneh and other border towns, causing a fire.
Israeli attacks in the past seven months of border clashes have set olive groves and greenery ablaze, with caretaker Agriculture Minister Abbas al-Hajj Hassan accusing Israel of carrying out white phosphorus attacks, saying the incendiary substance had burned down more than 60,000 old olive trees.
Since October 7, at least 380 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 72 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 11 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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