Two civilians killed in Israeli strike on Tayrharfa

Two civilians, a first responder from Amal's Risala rescue group and a telecoms technician doing maintenance work, were killed Friday in an Israeli drone strike on the southern border town of Tayrharfa, as cross-border hostilities intensified.

A Risala Scout association rescuer and a technician from Power Tec, which undertakes maintenance work for private mobile service provider MTC Touch, were killed "as a result of the Israeli aggression on Tayrharfa", Lebanon's National News Agency said.

Workers from MTC Touch and the Ogero telecom provider were carrying out "maintenance on the transmission poles", the NNA said, adding they had sought permission from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.

The Risala Scout association affiliated with the Amal movement, which operates rescue teams in south Lebanon, said the rescuer was killed when his team went to a location that had come under Israeli bombardment.

"The second strike came quickly, and one of the young men was martyred," a source from the association told AFP.

A source within MTC Touch said the strike hit a team that had been doing maintenance work in Tayrharfa.

"We lost communications with them because the station was hit," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

"There were people from our team and from another company that does maintenance work for us, and there were also paramedics," the source added.

Israeli jets and drones had targeted Yaroun and Tayr Harfa as Israeli artillery shelled the southern border towns of al-Khiam and Blida and the town of al-Odaisseh with phosphorus bombs.

Hezbollah for its part targeted Friday a group of soldiers in the al-Malkia post and surveillance equipment in Misgav Am in northern Israel.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel in support of ally Hamas a day after the Palestinian militant group's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that sparked war in the Gaza Strip.

The group has stepped up its attacks in recent weeks, while Israel's military has struck deeper into Lebanese territory.

On Thursday, four Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli strike on a car in Baflay near the southern coastal town of Tyre, about 15 kilometers from the frontier.

At least 402 people have been killed in Lebanon in seven months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also including 79 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 14 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border. Three of the soldiers were killed this week, one of them on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.