Hezbollah Members Killed in Israeli Airstrikes as Tensions Rise in Southern Lebanon

Beirut: Three members of Hezbollah were killed and six others, including three paramedics, were injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to anonymous Lebanese military sources.

The sources reported that an Israeli warplane conducted an airstrike on the village of al-Dhahira, located in the southwestern city of Tyre, resulting in the deaths of the three Hezbollah members. The attack also caused significant damage, destroying two homes and affecting ten others in the vicinity.

Additionally, three paramedics from the Islamic Health Authority’s civil defense were injured when a missile struck near an ambulance transporting victims from a prior drone strike in the Hamoul area to a Tyre hospital. Two individuals also sustained injuries when their motorcycle was hit by rockets fired from an Israeli drone in Wadi Hamoul. A Syrian national was injured due to Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the southeastern village of Khiam.

The Lebanese army reported monitoring multiple drone launches and around 40 surface-to-surface missiles fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. In response, Hezbollah stated that its fighters retaliated by targeting the Al-Shomira barracks and nearby Israeli troop positions with a barrage of Katyusha rockets.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border have been heightened since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched a series of rockets toward Israel in support of Hamas’s attack the day prior. Israel subsequently retaliated with heavy artillery fire directed at southeastern Lebanon.