BEIRUT: Israeli strikes killed two people and sparked wildfires in southern Lebanon, state media said, with armed groups announcing the death of one fighter.
Lebanese groups has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces in the eight months since the Gaza war began, triggered by the October 7 attack.
The deadly clashes have intensified in recent weeks, causing multiple brush fires on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border and raising fears the conflict could broaden.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said that "an Israeli drone carried out an air attack with two guided missiles, targeting a cafe in Aitarun and killing the cafe's owner, Ali Khalil Hamad, 37, and a young man named Mustafa A. Issa." The agency also reported a "violent airstrike" on the border village of Khiam.
The airforce had also targeted infrastructure in the Khiam and Markaba regions, it added.
Shortly after, Lebanese groups said they had launched Katyusha rockets on a town across the border "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks against southern villages and safe houses, and the targeting of civilians, notably in Aitarun where two people were killed".
The Lebanese movement later announced that one of its fighters had been killed by Israeli fire. It identified him as Radwan A. Issa, without providing further details.
More than eight months of border violence, which began on October 8, has killed 458 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including about 90 civilians. On the Israeli side of the border, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.
"Israeli artillery bombarded today the outskirts of the town of Alma al-Shaab with incendiary phosphorus shells, causing fires in the forests that spread to the vicinity of some homes," NNA reported earlier on Saturday. Lebanese authorities and several international rights groups have accused Israel of using white phosphorus rounds in its strikes on its northern neighbour.
White phosphorus, a substance that ignites on contact with oxygen, can be used as an incendiary weapon. Its use as a chemical weapon is prohibited under international law.
The UN peacekeepers in a statement reported a "bushfire near one of their positions in Hula", which was put out with help from Lebanese troops and civil defence forces. — AFP
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