UPDATE 2 - 3 killed as Israeli jets bomb town in southern Lebanon

UPDATES WITH DEATH TOLL; ADDS HEZBOLLAH STATEMENT; CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) — At least three people were killed on Friday in an Israeli airstrike targeting the town of Tayr Harfa in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, according to the official Lebanese National News Agency.

The agency reported that the "hostile (Israeli) aircraft" carried out the strike early Friday morning in the western sector of the town.

The agency quoted the Lebanese Health Ministry as stating that three Lebanese were killed and another was injured as a result of the attack.

The airstrike followed a night of intense military activity along the Israeli-Lebanese border, reported the agency, noting that the Israeli army opened heavy machine gun fire towards the town of Ayta al-Shaab in the central sector shortly after midnight.

In the early hours of Friday, Israeli forces shelled the outskirts of Naqoura and Jabal Al-Labouna in the western sector. The shelling prompted UN Peacekeeping Mission (UNIFIL) outposts south of the Litani River to sound their alarms as a precautionary measure.

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli army claimed that it carried out strikes against Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon.

In a statement, the Israeli army said that its forces “identified a cell” that was allegedly “planning to launch rockets towards Israel.”

The Israeli army “eliminated the cell in the area of Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon,” it added.

The army claimed that following the airstrike, a rocket launch was detected from the same area, suggesting the presence of additional weapons and rockets at the site.

It added that Israeli forces had shelled the Shebaa area in southern Lebanon, but did not provide further details.

The Lebanese Hezbollah group announced later on Friday that three of its fighters were killed during clashes with the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, bringing the death toll to 424 since Oct. 8, 2023.

Separately, Israeli army sources reported that anti-tank rockets launched from Lebanon struck a monitoring base at Mt. Meron (Jabal al-Jarmaq) near the southern Lebanese border.

According to Israeli Army Radio, the base "continues to operate" despite the attack.

The radio, citing unnamed security officials, stated that while three rockets were fired from Lebanon, only one managed to hit the base, with the other two intercepted before reaching their target.

Fears of a full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah have grown amid an exchange of cross-border attacks, especially after the July 30 assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr in Beirut.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has killed more than 40,200 people since last October following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara