Lebanese village mourns Syrian family killed in Israeli strike

Dozens of people gathered Friday in the village of Shamaa in southern Lebanon to mourn a Syrian refugee family killed in an Israeli strike that hit their house the day before.

The Lebanese health ministry said five Lebanese citizens were also injured in the strike, which killed a Syrian widow and her three sons — two children and one young adult.

Haidar Haidar, the oldest son’s employer in a factory for construction materials, said the family was originally from Idlib in northern Syria.

“They are people who escaped war in Syria and they met their fate here,” he said.

Since October, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged strikes near-daily over the Lebanon-Israel border, killing more than 500 people in Lebanon — including about 100 civilians — and 22 soldiers and 25 civilians in Israel.

Israel on Tuesday killed a top Hezbollah commander in a rare strike in Beirut's southern suburbs for which Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, triggering fears that the conflict could spiral out of control.