Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill six fighters, one child, security sources say

PHOTO CAPTION: DVIDS

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Friday killed at least six fighters and one child, according to security sources, as armed group Hezbollah responded with artillery rounds and rockets across the border.

The Israeli military has been trading fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah across Lebanon's southern border in parallel with the Gaza war, with hostilities ramping up recently amid fears that a full-scale regional war could erupt.

Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese towns of Mays al-Jabal and Tayr Harfa on Friday killed four Hezbollah fighters, according to the party's death notices and a security source.

Another fighter was killed in a separate strike outside Aitarun, according to the security source. It was not immediately clear if the combatant was a Hezbollah member.

A separate Israeli strike on the village of Aita, approximately 14 km (nine miles) north of the border with Israel, killed a Hezbollah fighter and a child, the security source told Reuters. Hezbollah identified the fighter killed in Aita as Mohammad Najem.

The Israeli military, in a statement posted online, said it had targeted Najem in Aita because he was a member of Hezbollah's rocket and missile unit. It said it had targeted two other Hezbollah fighters across the south.

Its statement said "a number of projectiles fired from Lebanese territory" had crossed into northern Israel but that no injuries were reported.

Hezbollah's press office said the group had fired rockets and artillery fire onto various Israeli military positions throughout the day.

More than 600 people in Lebanon have been killed since the start of the clashes last October, including more than 400 Hezbollah combatants and over 130 civilians, according to a Reuters toll.



(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; editing by Jonathan Oatis)