Four wounded in Hezbollah-Israel border clashes

Two people were wounded overnight in an Israeli strike on the southern border town of al-Khiam, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

Israeli warplanes also raided overnight into Wednesday the outskirts of Zebqine, Aita al-Shaab and Yater in south Lebanon.

On Wednesday, Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of Shebaa and Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of Ainata, Kounin, and Qabrikha, while a rocket that did not explode hit the outskirts of Bani Hayyan, causing a fire.

Hezbollah for its part said it targeted a command center in Beit Hillel and artillery positions in Dishon with Katyusha rockets in response to attacks on the southern villages of Aita al-Shaab and al-Khiam. Israeli reports said the rockets wounded two Israelis and sparked blazes.

Later in the day, Hezbollah targeted a group of soldiers in the Zar'it barracks with artillery shells and two posts in the occupied Kfarshouba Heights.

The Israeli military has been exchanging fire near-daily with Hezbollah since clashes along the border began last October. Hezbollah began firing rockets over the border on Oct. 8, a day after the outbreak of the war in Gaza sparked by the deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel.

Hezbollah maintains that it will stop firing once a cease-fire agreement is reached in Gaza.

Tensions in recent months have boiled, sparking global fear of the exchanges spiraling into all-out war. U.N. and international governments for months have urged an end to the fighting.

Since Oct. 8, almost 600 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups, but also including more than 100 civilians and noncombatants.

In northern Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, including in the predominantly Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

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