New strikes from both Hezbollah and Israel; in Lebanon, woman and child killed

BEIRUT — Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed a woman, her young niece, and a Hezbollah fighter on Tuesday, while Hezbollah launched drones 15 kilometers into Israeli territory — a significant distance compared to its usual targets.

The day started with an Israeli drone strike on a car driving along the coastal road north of Sour, in an area known as “Abu al-Aswad,” a few kilometers north of Adloun. This was the first time this area had been targeted by Israeli fire in the last six months of cross-border fighting.

Hezbollah announced the death of one of its fighters, Hussein Ali Azqoul, a resident of Adloun. As usual, the party did not give specifics on his death, but according to the Israeli army, he was the target of the strike on the car in Abu al-Aswad. The army said he was a Hezbollah official “who participated in the routine activities of Hezbollah’s air unit,” claiming that his assassination “significantly impairs” Hezbollah’s air capabilities.

The Saudi news channel al-Arabiya and Sky News Arabia also reported that the victim was an "important member of Hezbollah's air defense system.”

Retaliation

In response to this attack, Hezbollah launched a drone attack of its own in the early afternoon against the Golani Brigade headquarters and the headquarters of Unit 621 in the Shregba barracks, according to a party statement. The two targeted locations were located close to the coastal Israeli city of Akka.

A map published by Hezbollah shows the strikes having occurred just north of the city, next to the town of Regba, approximately 15 kilometers south of the Lebanese-Israeli border. It was the first time since Oct. 8 that Hezbollah targeted this area, which is significantly further south than the majority of its targets.

Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson, said that Israel's "air defense fighters recently intercepted two suspicious air targets over the maritime space in the north of the country."

Rocket alarm sirens were activated "for fear of falling shrapnel as a result of the interception operation," Adraee wrote.

Family suffers death and injuries in Israeli strike

An Israeli airstrike completely destroyed a two-story house in Hanine, Bint Jbeil district, killing a woman and her young niece, and wounding four of her other nieces and nephews and those children’s grandparents, who were all taken to hospital.

The woman’s name was Mariam Kashakesh, whose husband had been killed earlier in the conflict, and her niece was Sarah Kashakesh. A Lebanese Civil Defense source told AFP the woman was in her 50s and the girl was 12 years old.

Three more injuries were reported following the bombing of a house in Tayr Harfa by Israeli warplanes, one of which was in critical condition at the time of publication.

According to L’Orient Today’s count, 377 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of cross-border fighting with Israel. Around 60 of those casualties are civilians and 257 are Hezbollah fighters.