BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said three people were killed on Wednesday in Israeli strikes on the country’s south, the latest cross-border violence amid heightened regional tensions and fear of a full-blown war.

Hezbollah has traded near daily fire with the Israeli army since October 7. The Lebanese health ministry said in a statement that an “Israeli enemy” strike on the southern town of Marjayoun killed two people and wounded four others, noting the toll was provisional.

The official National News Agency said an “enemy drone targeted a car” in the town square, a usually busy area home to shops.

The health ministry also said one person was killed and another wounded in an “Israeli” strike in south Lebanon’s Blida village. It earlier reported that an “Israeli enemy” strike in Abbassiyeh, near the southern city of Tyre, wounded 17 people, including two teenagers and an eight-year-old girl, with four people in “critical” condition.

Hezbollah said it launched “volleys of Katyusha rockets” at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel in response to the Abbassiyeh strike. The group claimed a number of other attacks on Israeli troops and positions on Wednesday, including with “explosive-laden drones”.

As part of efforts to de-escalate the situation, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is set to visit Beirut on Thursday,

diplomatic sources said, on the heels of a visit on Wednesday by US envoy Amos Hochstein.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2024