Hezbollah claims killing Israeli soldiers in close-range clashes in southern Lebanon

By Abdulsalam Fayez

ISTANBUL (AA) - Hezbollah on Wednesday claimed killing and injuring Israeli soldiers in a close-range combat near the town of Qaouzahin in southern Lebanon's Nabatieh province.

In a series of statements, the group detailed the ongoing hostilities, emphasizing the intensity of the clashes.

The group claimed that it launched a rocket barrage targeting Israeli forces in the Wadi Hunin area in southern Lebanon.

In a similar strike, Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli soldiers between the towns of Odaisseh and Markaba in Nabatieh, using rockets.

Additionally, Hezbollah announced it had fired rockets at the Israeli city of Safed.

The group further revealed that its air defense units successfully intercepted two Israeli drones, forcing them to retreat from southern Lebanon's airspace using surface-to-air missiles.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on the Israeli settlement of Yiftah, as well as Israeli artillery positions in the Dalton and Dishon areas in northern Israel.

In another engagement, Hezbollah fighters reported targeting an Israeli Merkava tank near the town of Ramia in southern Lebanon, striking the vehicle with a guided missile and inflicting casualties among its crew.

Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,500 people and displacing more than 1.34 million.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed over 42,400 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Israel expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio

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