Fatalities as Israeli jets strike 2 border towns in southern Lebanon

By Wassim Saifuldine

BEIRUT (AA) – Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes in two border towns in southern Lebanon on Monday amid reports of fatalities.

A local Lebanese source said several people were killed and injured in the attacks in the towns of Naqoura and Meiss El-Jabal.

Lebanese health authorities have yet to issue an official toll from the attacks.

Two houses were destroyed and several others damaged in the strikes in Naqoura, the state-run National News Agency reported.

A civilian was also injured in an Israeli drone strike in the same town, the broadcaster said.

The Israeli army said early Monday that its warplanes had carried out overnight raids against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of weapons fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The escalation came amid a brutal Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 35,400 Palestinians following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio