The Lebanese border village of Marwahine targeted by an Israeli bombardment, March 17, 2024. (Credit: AFP Archive Photo)
Two people, including one member of Hezbollah, were killed on Monday after an Israeli strike hit a house in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun).
The Hezbollah member has been named as Hussein Ali Dabbouk, from the southern Lebanese village of Shabriha. As usual, Hezbollah did not announce the date and time of the death, but added that he died "on the path to Jersusalem" which the group uses to describe fighters who died in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. 248 members of Hezbollah have died in Lebanon and Syria since October 8.
The second person who died has not yet been identified.
According to a security source, an Israeli drone missile first targeted a house in the village shortly before 9 p.m., followed by an air strike. The targeted house is located in the center of the village, near the central square. Civil defense ambulances from the Islamic Mission Scouts organization (al-Rissala Scouts, affiliated with the Amal movement) and Hezbollah's Islamic Health Committee were on the scene, transferring the wounded to government hospitals in Mais al-Jabal and Bint Jbeil. According to the medical source, the three injured were hospitalized, while the two victims are still under the rubble. A similar toll was also reported by the state-run official National Information Agency (NNA). A third strike targeted the west of the village after 9 p.m.
"Military" infrastructure
The Israeli army claimed to have "attacked a military building" belonging to Hezbollah, in the "Mais al-Jabal region."
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah announced the death of its member Mohammad Ibrahim al-Zein, born in 1995, from Shahour (Sour), killed according to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent's sources in an Israeli strike on Mais al-Jabal last night. This brings the total number of party members killed since the beginning of the conflict to 247, according to our count.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire along the border between the two countries since Oct. 8, the day after the deadly Hamas attack on Israel and the start of the Gaza war. Mais al-Jabal is one of the border towns hardest hit by these clashes.
Prior to these strikes, at around 8:30 p.m., a house in Tayr Harfa (Sour) was bombed by Israeli aircraft, according to a security source. Rescue workers also went to the scene, but so far no casualties have been reported.
According to a message posted on X by the Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, the strike targeted Hezbollah "saboteurs," who had been spotted at "Abou Shash," a town on the western outskirts of Tayr Harfa.
At around 11 p.m., Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a strike carried out at 10:45 p.m. against "a building used by Israeli soldiers in Metula." The attack was carried out "in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza and in retaliation for Zionist attacks on southern villages and civilian homes," according to the statement.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.