Tensions boil as ablaze Israel strikes new targets, including in West Bekaa
Two Israeli drone strikes targeted Tuesday a car on the road between Libbaya and Yohmor in West Bekaa, deep inside Lebanon, and a motorbike in the coastal border town of Naqoura, killing one person, the latest in a slew of targeted drone attacks on vehicles in recent days.
"The strike targeting a motorcycle in Naqoura killed one person and wounded another," the National News Agency (NNA) said after earlier reporting an "enemy drone strike" in the area.
It did not say whether the casualties were civilians or fighters.
Two Hezbollah fighters were killed by Israeli fire Monday, after Lebanese official media reported fatalities in Israeli strikes on a car near the southern village of Zrariyeh and a motorcycle also in Naqoura in the country's south.
Hezbollah carried out Tuesday an aerial attack with an array of suicide drones on a barracks in the occupied Golan Heights, in response to Monday's strike on Naqoura.
The group also targeted the Ramim barracks in north Israel, while Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of Tayrharfa, Wadi Zebqin, and Alma al-Shaab.
Almost eight months of regular cross-border clashes between the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, a Hamas ally, and Israel have intensified in recent days.
The group launched Monday "a squadron of explosive-laden drones" at northern Israeli army positions "in response to the assassination carried out by the Israeli enemy this afternoon in the Zrariyeh area".
Israeli authorities were meanwhile battling Tuesday intense forest fires in Kiryat Shmona that broke out shortly after rocket fire and the fall of drones launched from Lebanon, forcing the partial evacuation of the town.
The border clashes began after Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has previously targeted Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon as well as allied Palestinian and Lebanese militants in cars and on motorcycles.
The latest violence came as Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri was visiting Lebanon, where he met Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Iran supports a number of armed groups in the region including Hezbollah and Hamas.
The violence since early October has killed at least 453 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including 88 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to the army.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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