Israeli army targets a motorcycle in Houla, killing 2 brothers

BEIRUT — Israel killed two brothers on Sunday when one of its warplanes targeted a motorcycle in Houla on which they were traveling, our correspondent in the south reported. This raises the toll of civilians killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Oct. 8 to 69, according to L'Orient Today's count.

According to our correspondent, the victims were Ali Kassem, 31, and Mohammad Kassem, 43, and the strike took place in front of their house.

Locals told our correspondent that the two brothers were walking their livestock before they returned home on their motorcycle.

The missile that killed them also reportedly destroyed a large section of their house.

“The two brothers refused to leave the village and continued to work, producing milk and yogurt, and distributing them to residents of neighboring villages,” one local told L’Orient Today.

While another local resident said that the brothers “were supporting their family, including their other brothers and their elderly father" and asked, "Who will provide for them now?”

Hezbollah opened a "support front" against Israel in southern Lebanon on Oct. 8, following its ally Hamas' attack on Israel the previous day. The party's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has been explicit in stating that the Iran-aligned group, prominent in the "Axis of Resistance," would not allow Hamas to be destroyed and that a cease-fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border is contingent on a cease-fire in Gaza.

On Friday, the Israeli army targeted an ambulance in an airstrike in southern Lebanon, killing one medic and wounding another. It was the first time an ambulance had been directly targeted since cross-border fire exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel began on Oct. 8.

According to L'Orient Today's count, 20 medics have been killed in nearly eight months of war.

Reporting contributed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah.