Three dead in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon — report

BEIRUT — Three people were killed Saturday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, including two members of Hizbollah, the Iran-backed movement and official media said.

The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen near-daily exchanges of fire since the Israeli war on Gaza began nearly seven months ago.

Hizbollah has intensified its targeting of military sites in Israel since tensions soared between Israel and Iran over the bombing of Tehran's Damascus consulate on April 1, widely blamed on Israel.

In two separate statements, Hizbollah mourned the deaths of two fighters from the villages of Kafr Kila and Khiam.

It said they had been "martyred on the road to Jerusalem", the phrase it uses to refer to members killed by Israeli fire.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said "Israeli occupation aircraft carried out two raids today at dawn on the towns of Kafr Shuba and Shebaa", leading to the death of "citizen Qasim Asaad in the town of Kafr Shuba".

Multiple villages in southern Lebanon had been hit by Israeli strikes in recent hours, leaving damage to homes and property, NNA said.

Hizbollah said separately that it targeted "newly established positions of enemy soldiers" west of Shumira in northern Israel, the day after it targeted two military sites with dozens of Katyusha rockets in response to an Israeli strike on Friday.

Pro-Hamas Lebanese fighter group Jamaa Islamiya on Friday said that two of its senior commanders were killed in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon.

The Israeli army announced on Friday that its air force “aircraft struck and eliminated Mosab Khalaf in the area of Meidun in Lebanon”, describing him as a “senior terrorist in the Jamaa Islamiya terrorist organisation”.

Khalaf had “advanced a large number of terror attacks against Israel”, the army said.