Hezbollah fighter, two children killed in Israeli strikes near Sidon

Israeli air strikes on Friday hit an area of southern Lebanon far from the border, with Hezbollah announcing one dead fighter and official media saying two Syrian children were killed.

The National News Agency said "Israeli strikes targeted Najjariyeh and Addousiyeh", two adjacent villages about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border just south of the coastal city of Sidon.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its air force "struck terrorist infrastructure" where Hezbollah fighters operated in the Najjariyeh area.

The "infrastructure contained several compounds used by Hezbollah's aerial defense array and posed a threat to Israeli aircraft", it added.

Hezbollah announced a fighter from Najjariyeh had died. The NNA said two Syrian children were killed in the Najjariyeh strike, identifying them as Osama and Hani al-Khaled.

An AFP photographer saw ambulances heading to the targeted sites, saying the strikes hit a pickup truck in Najjariyeh and an orchard.

The Israeli army statement said that "Hezbollah's aerial defense array deliberately operates from within civilian areas, thus endangering the lives of civilians in southern Lebanon".

Hezbollah -- which has intensified its cross-border attacks in recent days, prompting Israeli strikes deeper into Lebanese territory -- announced Friday it had launched "attack drones" on Israeli military positions.

The group said it has carried out an aerial attack with multiple suicide drones on a newly artillery established command center in Ga'aton, inflicting casualties among soldiers.

It said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike on a car in Qana on Thursday.The strike killed two Hezbollah members.

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire since the Palestinian group's October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month.

On Thursday, Hezbollah launched 13 attacks on northern Israel, targeting military positions and equipment, including with an "attack drone carrying two S5 rockets" that targeted a vehicle at a position in Metula.

The Metula attack is the first successful missile airstrike Hezbollah has launched from within Israeli airspace. The attack wounded three soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the Israeli military.

The group has stepped up its attacks on Israel in recent weeks, particularly since the Israeli incursion into the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. It has struck deeper inside Israel and introduced new and more advanced weaponry.

The cross-border fighting has killed at least 418 people in Lebanon, mostly militants but also including 80 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israel says 14 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in areas on both sides of the border.