The outskirts of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil) in flames after Israeli bombardments in southern Lebanon on May 26, 2024. (Credit: Photo sent by local sources to our correspondent in the region)
BEIRUT – Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed at least seven people on Sunday. A Hezbollah member and two civilians were killed in separate Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese villages of Naqoura and Aita al-Shaab, according to residents' testimonies and security sources cited by our correspondent in the area. Two more people were killed in Houla by an Israeli strike in the afternoon, the village mayor, Shakib Koteich, told L'Orient-Le Jour. Two others died in an attack on Yaroun, according to local residents and security sources.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in daily cross-border strikes along the Lebanese-Israeli border since Oct. 8, one day after the start of the Gaza war.
On Sunday morning, Hezbollah member Mohammad Baidoun was killed and another person was seriously injured in an Israeli drone strike that targeted a motorcycle near an OMT store in the village of Naqoura (Sour district), security sources told our correspondent. Hezbollah announced Baidoun's death without giving details of its time, place or circumstances.
According to a statement released by the party, Baidoun was a Bint Jbeil native and a resident of the village of Habboush.
In response to the Naqoura strike, Hezbollah said that it fired rockets and artillery shells on the "Jal al-Alam" Israeli site, facing the area of Labbouneh (Sour district), and hit a deployment of Israeli soldiers congregated close to the site, causing "confirmed losses."
Later, two civilians, identified as Rafik Qassem and Hussein Saleh, were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted a motorcycle in the village of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil).
The mayor of Aita al-Shaab, Mohammad Srour, named the victims and told L'Orient Today that Rafik Qassem was "a car electrician" and Hussein Saleh "a car panel beater."
“They never left the village. Hussein Saleh looked after the animals here, he fed them,” Srour said. ”They never touched a weapon. I'm really sad for them, as I am for all the martyrs.”
Israel attacks have killed 64 civilians in Lebanon since October, including the two people who died in Aita al-Shaab on Sunday.
Other strikes
Israeli drones also on Sunday carried out two raids on Jabal Blat and a raid on the outskirts of Yaroun (Bint Jbeil), in which two people were killed.
Meanwhile, Israeli artillery shelling targeted the eastern outskirts of Naqoura (Sour district) and the outskirts of Shihin, Jibbayn, Yaroun, Aitaroun, Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil) and Rashaya al-Foukhar (Hasbaya).
Hezbollah also said that on Sunday morning it destroyed "technical systems" at the "Abad" Israeli site, facing the Lebanese village of Houla.
In another statement, the party said that it targeted the Malikiyah Israeli site, facing the Lebanese village of Aitaroun, and a deployment of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the same site at 1:50 p.m.
The Lebanese-Israeli cross-border strikes on Sunday coincided with a rocket attack carried out by Hamas on Tel Aviv for the first time in months.