Smoke billows from an area targeted in a mortar fired from south Lebanon near Israel's northern border on December 20, 2023, amid cross-border tensions as fighting continues with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
A woman was killed and two others injured in an Israeli bombardment that targeted her home in the southern Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras on Thursday morning, our correspondent in south Lebanon, Muntasser Abdallah, and AFP report.
According to local residents who spoke with our correspondent, the woman killed was 75 years old and her injured husband is 80. AFP reports that the woman was in her 80s.
A third person, who was lightly injured in the strike, was not hospitalized, local residents said.
Fifty shells
They also told L'Orient Today that around 50 Israeli shells fell on Thursday morning in Maroun al-Ras and the surrounding area, including on the village of Yaroun. Another strike targeted a house in Kfar Kila this morning, without causing any casualties.
Maroun al-Ras, in the Bint Jbeil district, is located on the south Lebanon border with Israel.
On Wednesday night, Hezbollah launched several attacks against Israel, including one that targeted the town of Kiryat Shmona.
On Wednesday, a man, initially presented as a civilian according to local authorities quoted by our correspondent, was killed in an Israeli strike against Markaba village in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah later claimed the man as one of its members.
Cross-border fire has been an almost daily occurrence between Hezbollah and Israel since Oct. 8, the day after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza.
In these exchanges, Hezbollah has lost a total of 118 fighters, according to our count.
AFP reports that the clashes in the border areas have left a total of over 140 dead, including some 20 civilians, in Lebanon, and at least 11 killed on the Israeli side.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, speaking from Beirut on Monday, called for restraint to avoid a regional conflagration. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meanwhile, on a visit to Israel, urged Hezbollah not to "provoke a wider conflict."