Lebanon’s Hezbollah says three fighters killed in Israeli strike

Three Hezbollah fighters were killed Saturday in an Israeli strike on a house in southern Lebanon, the group said in a statement.

A source close to the group told AFP earlier that “three Hezbollah fighters were killed and two others seriously wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house in the area of Al-Jebbayn.”

Hezbollah later confirmed the toll, adding that it had attacked “two buildings used by the enemy soldiers” in Metula and Shlomi in northern Israel, “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks.”

In earlier statements, Hezbollah said it had fired on several Israeli targets, including soldiers and spy equipment.

The Israeli military separately said that it had struck a “compound and the terrorist operating from it” in the area of Ayta al-Shaab.

It also said it had struck a “terrorist who operated in Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Kfar Kela.”

Since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, there have been near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.

The violence has killed at least 375 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

In northern Israel, 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed, according to the army.

In recent days, Hezbollah has intensified its attacks against Israeli military positions, with tensions across the Middle East surging.

On April 13, Iran, which supports both Hezbollah and Hamas, launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike which levelled its consulate in Damascus.