Hezbollah, Israeli army exchange fire across border areas

By Wassim Seif El Din

BEIRUT (AA) - The Lebanese Hezbollah group and the Israeli army on Friday exchanged attacks against each other along their border areas.

In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters attacked the vicinity of the Israeli military Ramim barracks and Al-Baghdadi site with appropriate weapons, and claimed achieving direct hits on both sites.

In a separate statement earlier, the group also said it shot down an Israeli drone midnight while flying over the al-Azzieh region, in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese official news agency NNA said the Israeli army attacked several targets in the country's southern areas.

It reported Israeli airstrikes on the town of Aita al-Shaab and on the outskirts of the Marwahin town and the Jabal Blat area.

Since Oct. 8, the clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border areas have so far left 222 members of the Hezbollah group killed, in addition to 11 from its allied Amal Movement, 24 from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups, 45 Lebanese civilians, one Lebanese soldier and another from the security personnel.

On the Israeli side, six civilians were killed in addition to 11 Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli figures.

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

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar