Pro-Iranian Hezbollah announced early Thursday the death of four of its fighters, including a local official, in southern Lebanon, bringing its total losses in clashes with Israel for nearly three months to 129.
A source close to the Lebanese Islamist movement told AFP that the four fighters were killed during the night from Wednesday to Thursday in the border town of Naqoura. Among them is the party leader in this locality.
According to the official National News Agency (ANI), Israeli aircraft “carried out raids on the center of Naqoura which destroyed a home and damaged surrounding houses.”
Hezbollah had already announced on Wednesday the death of five other fighters in southern Lebanon.
Since October 8, the day after the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah has launched daily attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon, to support Hamas, its ally.
The cross-border violence left 175 dead, including 129 Hezbollah fighters but also more than 20 civilians including three journalists, according to an AFP count.
In northern Israel, nine soldiers and five civilians were killed, according to authorities.
Hezbollah particularly targets Israeli military positions near the border.
But its leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel on Wednesday evening against starting a war in Lebanon, assuring that his formation would fight “without limits”.
His speech came the day after a strike attributed to Israel which killed Hamas number two, Saleh al-Arouri, and six other leaders and executives of this formation.
The strike targeted a Hamas office in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah. This is the first time since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7 that the outskirts of the Lebanese capital have been targeted.
Several Hamas figures in exile are established in Lebanon, under the protection of Hezbollah.
Israel vowed to “destroy” Hamas after the Palestinian Islamist movement’s unprecedented attack on its soil on October 7, which left around 1,140 dead in Israel.
The war that has been going on in Gaza since this attack has cost the lives of 22,313 people, mainly women, adolescents and children, according to the latest report from Hamas.
This article is originally published on arabnews.fr